PRIMARY  ARTISAN   EDUCATION 


PRIMARY 
ARTISAN     EDUCATION 


W.  P.  WELPTON,  B.Sc. 

LECTURER  IN   EDUCATION  AND  MASTER  OP  METHOD  IN  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  LEEDS 
AUTHOR  OP  "PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS  OP  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION " 


LONGMANS,     GREEN    AND    CO. 

39  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON 
NEW  YORK,  BOMBAY  AND  CALCUTTA 

1913 


TO 

MY  WIFE 


267340 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  the  outcome  of  a  deep  sense  of  the  unfitness 
of  the  primary  schooling  of  to-day  to  prepare  the  artisan 
boy  for  his  work  in  life  and  his  duty  towards  the  nation. 
During  the  twenty  years  I  have  been  closely  connected 
with  primary  schools,  certain  of  their  features  have  forced 
themselves  on  my  notice :  first,  the  longing  with  which 
the  primary  school  boy  looks  forward  to  leaving  school 
and  entering  work ;  second,  the  almost  entire  neglect  of 
the  school  to  look  to  the  boy's  future ;  third,  the  futility 
of  much  that  is  taught  in  the  schools ;  fourth,  the  in- 
difference of  the  nation's  schools  to  the  inculcation  in 
their  pupils  of  a  national  sentiment.     These  features  of 
the  primary  school,   it  seems  to   me,  are   a    source  of 
national  weakness,  and   can    be   removed  only  by  re- 
organizing primary  schooling  so  that  its  tone  and  pursuits 
will  reflect  the  activities,  ideals  and  spirit  of  industry  and 
nationality.     Such  a  reorganization  I  have  attempted  to> 
outline  in  this  book. 

Education  finds  its  end  in  a  conception  of  manhood.. 
But  what  particular  conception  of  manhood  should  direct 

the  activities  of  the  primary  school,  what  qualities  and 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

powers  should  its  life  and  pursuits  discipline,  and  for 
what  range  of  manhood's  activities?  Culture  must  find 
a  place.  The  distinctive  mark  of  man  is  mind  or  soul, 
and  the  development  of  the  soul  towards  a  life  of  wide 
intellectual  interests,  broad  and  tender  human  sympathies, 
and  strivings  after  noble  ideals  is  the  distinctively  human 
side  of  any  education.  But  what  of  the  other  aspects  of 
manhood  ?  Shall  utilitarian  and  civic  ideals  and  activities 
find  a  place  in  our  schools?  I  can  in  no  way  find  a 
sufficient  reason  for  excluding  either  the  one  or  the  other, 
or  even  for  placing  them  in  a  position  subordinate  to 
culture.  Work,  industry,  utility  appeals  to  me  as  the 
foundation  of  manhood,  as  culture  seems  to  me  to  be  its 
crown.  A  free,  independent  and  honest  manhood  can 
only  be  based  on  a  free,  willing  and  hearty  acceptation 
of  work  as  a  duty  to  oneself  and  a  service  to  the  nation. 
Further,  work  should  be  more  in  one's  life  than  a  task 
to  earn  one's  daily  bread,  more  than  a  selfish  ambition 
to  win  a  place  in  the  world.  There  is  the  joy  of  work, 
of  making  something,  of  doing  it  better  than  others  can, 
of  attaining  a  higher  and  higher  perfection.  Is  not  this 
something  in  life,  and  worth  striving  for  in  our  schools? 
The  primary  school  of  to-day  shuts  its  eyes  to  the 
boy's  future  vocation.  Educational  theory  condemns 
the  utilitarian  as  contemptible.  An  industrial  nation, 
however,  cannot  afford  to  leave  the  industrial  ideals  and 
powers  of  its  future  workers  to  chance.  On  higher 
grounds  still,  a  manhood  of  industry  is  a  worthy  ideal 
for  the  boys  and  men  of  a  great  industrial  nation,  and  it 
is  a  worthy  educational  aim  that  would  see  the  nation's 


PREFACE  ix 

schools  inspiring  in  their  pupils  ambitions  and  ideals 
concerning  their  future  work  and  training  in  them  the 
beginnings  of  the  skill  and  power  to  engage  in  it. 

Further,  I  have  felt  no  compunction  in  placing  citizen- 
ship as  one  of  the  aims  of  the  primary  school.  Of  the 
secular  duties,  the  first  after  earning  the  right  to  live  is 
that  of  service  to  the  country.  I  have  not  hesitated, 
therefore,  to  regard  History  for  school  purposes  as  the 
national  tradition  on  which  the  corporate  instincts  of  our 
boys  can  be  worthily  fed  and  raised  to  the  plane  of  a 
high  and  strong  national  sentiment.  Yet  an  unrealized 
sentiment  is  something  of  a  sham.  Some  form  of  national 
service  should  form  the  natural  outer  expression  of  civic 
instruction.  In  what  I  have  said  on  this  topic  I  plead 
guilty  to  being  a  humble  admirer  of  Lieutenant-General 
Sir  Robert  Baden-Powell,  the  founder  of  the  Boy  Scouts, 
an  organization  that  is  doing  so  much  to  build  up  in  the 
boys  of  the  nation  an  ideal  of  manliness  and  patriotism 
united  to  the  duty  of  personal  service. 

More  fundamental  even  than  the  manhood  of  industry 
and  citizenship  is  physical  manhood.  It  lies  at  the  root 
of  all  power — individual,  industrial,  and  national.  To  all 
forms  of  activity  it  gives  enduring  strength,  spirited  en- 
terprise, and  hardy  courage.  The  primary  school  of  to- 
day, however,  is  inspired  by  no  ideal  of  physical  manhood. 
Its  physical  education  is  bound  in  the  shackles  of  a 
narrow  hygiene  and  physiology  that  can  evolve  nothing 
more  virile  than  such  remedial  and  medicinal  measures 
as  school  feeding,  ventilation,  and  hygienic  desks.  Im- 
portant as  these  are  to  health,  yet  we  must  own  that  a 


x  PREFACE 

strong  manhood  can  never  be  built  on  such  measures  as 
these.  Physical  manhood  is  activity,  strength,  virility — 
of  body,  mind,  and  spirit — in  abundance  and  running 
over  to  live,  to  work,  to  fight,  to  conquer,  and  to  endure. 
In  individual  life  it  fills  us  with  the  joy  of  living  and 
flings  us  into  all  forms  of  healthy,  manly  recreations  and 
enterprises ;  in  industry,  it  is  the  mainstay  of  our  national 
supremacy ;  in  our  national  life,  it  is  vital  to  our  freedom 
and  Empire ;  to  foster  it  should  be  the  first  duty  of  our 
nation's  schools. 

Culture,  citizenship,  industry,  strong  and  hardy  manli- 
ness— these  have  been  my  aims  in  attempting  a  re- 
organization of  the  primary  school :  these  and  a  desire  to 
see  the  artisan  boy  appreciating  the  value  of  the  school 
by  finding  in  the  spirit  of  its  work  and  the  nature  of  its 
pursuits  a  life  that  has  fruitful  and  living  connexions  of 
two  kinds ;  first,  with  the  innate  tendencies  of  the  boy's 
nature  as  they  unfold  themselves  spontaneously  in  early 
adolescence,  and  second  with  the  activities  of  the  life 
towards  which  the  boy's  ambition  is  urging  him.  So  the 
school  would  form  a  real  bond  between  the  boy  and  the 
world,  a  bridge  to  carry  him  forward  from  childhood  into 
life  to  enter  its  activities  with  a  full  heart,  a  high  purpose 
and  developed  power. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  James  Graham,  Secretary  to 
the  Leeds  Education  Authority,  for  his  courtesy  and 
kindness  in  permitting  me  to  visit  on  many  occasions  the 
Leeds  Preparatory  Trades  Schools,  and  to  publish,  as  an 
appendix  to  this  book,  an  account  of  the  schemes  and 
equipment  of  the  one  in  the  Holbeck  district.  These 


PREFACE  xi 

schools  were  started  in  1905  as  an  experiment.  They 
are  now  beyond  the  experimental  stage.  They  have 
proved  themselves  an  educational  necessity.  They  have 
shown  how  the  '  industrial '  can  with  success  be  brought 
into  the  schooling  of  artisan  boys  under  the  age  of  fifteen. 
It  remains  only  for  similar  teaching  to  find  its  way  into 
the  senior  portion  of  every  school  in  an  artisan  neigh- 
bourhood. 

W.  P.  WELPTON. 

9  April,  1913. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE. 

PAGE 

The  Practical  Spirit  of  Artisan  Life  in  the  Artisan  School         .  i 

Qualities  required  for  Artisan  Life 8 

Health  and  Strength 9 

Practical  Intelligence  and  Skill n 

Character 13 

The  Spirit  of  True  Work 13 

Independence      .........  14 

Fighting  Spirit 17 

The  Spirit  of  Co-operation 18 

'ool  Training  for  Artisan  Life 20 

School  Spirit  of  Duty  and  Work 20 

Pursuits  to  train  for  Practical  Manhood 23 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL:  ITS  PLACE  AND  FUNCTION. 

Manhood  is  the  Aim  of  Education 28 

Activities  of  Manhood 28 

Culture,  Civic,  and  Utilitarian  Activities 29 

The  Utilitarian  Factor  in  Schools 29 

The  Education  of  the  Artisan  Boy  as  determined  by : — 

(1)  the  Tendencies  of  Early  Adolescence 33 

(2)  the  Home  Conditions  ........  40 

xiii 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Organization  of  Primary  Schooling 43 

Infants:  Juniors:  Seniors.  .......  43 

Senior  Boys' :  Senior  Girls' 45 

Artisan:  Commercial 47 

Transference  of  Pupils  to  Secondary  Schools 48 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION  OF  THE  PRIMARY 
ARTISAN  SCHOOL. 

Necessity  for  Self-Learning  and  Self-Discipline        ....  52 

The  Educative  Value  of  Employment        .....  54 

Continuation  Schools 56 

Purpose  and  Power  the  aim  of  Instruction        .        .        .        .        .57 

Real  and  Sham  Knowledge 58 

School  Life  and  Out-of-School  Experience         ....  60 

Education  should  be  a  Discipline 61 

The  Discipline  of  Innate  Forces 62 

Waste  and  Perversion  of  Innate  Forces     .        .        .        ...  63 

Strengthening  and  Refining  of  Innate  Forces    ....  65 

Training  of  Purpose  and  Power 66 

The  Discipline  of  Inspiration 66 

Appeal  to  Spontaneous  Tendencies 67 

Personal  Influence  of  Teacher 67 

Rivalry 68 

Esprit  de  Corps 68 

Sense  of  Responsibility       ........  69 

The  Power  of  Understanding    .        .        .        .        .        .        .  71 

Receptivity:  Imitation  and  Suggestion 71 

Originality :  Discovery  and  Invention         .....  75 

Outer  Expression  of  Mental  Life 78 

Expression  of  Sentiment    ........  78 

Expression  of  Thought 80 

in  Language 81 

in  Action .........  82 

Practical  Skill 83 

Work  of  Intelligence — 

in  Planning  Action      ........  83 

in  Directing  Action 84 

Automatism  in  the  Controlkof  Movement 86 

Training  of  Skill 88 


CONTENTS  xv 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  CURRICULUM  OF  THE  PRIMARY  ARTISAN  SCHOOL. 

PAGE 

The  Educative  Forces  of  the  School 92 

The  Culture  and  Practical  Aims  of  the  School 94 

The  Culture  Studies          .                 96 

Literature  and  Ideals 96 

History  and  National  Sentiment 97 

Geography  and  World  Interests         ......  99 

Nature  Knowledge  and  Intellectual  Inquiry      ....  102 

The  Expressive  Arts :  Truth  and  Beauty 102 

The  Practical  Occupations 103 

Skill ;  Practical  Intelligence ;  Spirit  of  True  Work    .        .        .104 

The  Physical  Pursuits       .........  104 

Based  on  Physical  Impulses 105 

To  train  Health  and  Strength    . 105 

Controlled  Movement  .......  105 

Alertness,  Coolness,  Resource 106 

Hardy  Manliness 106 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  CULTURE  STUDIES. 

Literature,  History  and  Geography  ......  109 

Self-Learning  from  Books  .         .        .         .         .         .         .         .  109 

Desultory  Reading      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .no 

Reading  to  Absorb in 

Intelligent  Study  of  Books 112 

Library  Study 113 

School  Societies 117 

Forms  of  Expression  in  Literature  and  History         .        .         .         .119 

Handwork 119 

Dramatization 120 

Singing 123 

The  Cultivation  of  National  Sentiment 124 

Use  of  Symbolism  and  Ritual 124 

National  Days .  124 

Training  in  National  Service 125 

The  Study  of  Geography 127 

Practical  Geography 127 

Maps  the  Language  of  Geography 128 

The  Making  of  Maps  and  Models      ......  126 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Study  of  Nature  Knowledge 130 

Learning  by  Direct  Experience  .......  130 

The  Nature  of  Observational  Inquiry         .....  131 

The  Scope  of  School  Nature  Study 133 

Out-of-School  Study  and  Experiences 134 

Classroom  Study 136 

School  Gardening 137 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS. 

Practical  Pursuits  preparatory  to  Skilled  Trades       ....  139 

Handicrafts 144 

Practical  Mathematics  and  Mechanics      ......  144 

The  Study  of  Materials  and  Forces 145 

Industrial  Arithmetic 145 

Practical  Measurements     ........  148 

Practical  Drawing 151 

The  Nature  of  the  Teaching 151 

Based  on  Practical  Experience  .        .        .        .        .        .        .  151 

To  stimulate  Industrial  Ambition       .         .         .         .         .         .  153 

To  develop  Initiative  and  Resource 153 

Limitations  of  Class  Teaching 154 

Independent  Work      .                 155 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS. 

Nature  of  Physical  Manhood 158 

Qualities  of  Body 160 

of  Intelligence 160 

of  Character 160 

Training  of  Physical  Manhood — 

in  Ancient  Persia 161 

in  Ancient  Greece       .........  162 

The  Characteristics  of  Physical  Education 169 

Comparison  of  Physical  Exercises  and  Games 170 

Effect  on  Health  and  Muscular  Power 170 

Effect  on  Control  of  Movement  .......  171 

Games  and  Contests  for  Schools 174 


CONTENTS  xvii 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
HEALTH. 

PAGE 

Health  and  Mental  and  Physical  Efficiency 176 

The  Work  of  the  Body 177 

The  Executive  Activities 177 

Sense  and  Motor  Activity  controlled  by  Nervous  System   .  177 

Importance  of  Nervous  Vitality 178 

The  Organic  Activities 179 

The  Energy  of  Life  and  Work 179 

Sources  of  Energy 180 

The  Nutritive  Processes      .......  180 

The  Purifying  Processes      .         .         .         .         .         .         .181 

Conditions  of  Healthy  Life  and  Efficient  Work .         .         .         .  185 

Food 186 

Fresh  Air    . 186 

Exercise 188 

Stimulus  to  Health 188 

Stimulus  to  Development  of  Muscular  Power       .         .  189 

Necessity  of  Food  and  Fresh  Air          ....  191 

Fatigue 192 

Nature  of  Fatigue  and  Exhaustion 192 

Means  of  Preventing  Fatigue      .......  194 

Promotion  of  Physical  Vitality 194 

Periods  of  Rest  and  Change  of  Work  ....  194 

General  Fatigue  removed  by  Sleep 195 

Physical  Pursuits  to  promote  Health 195 

to  develop  Power  of  Heart     ....  196 

to  develop  Action  of  Lungs    ....  198 

Hygienic  Conditions  of  School  Life  ......  200 

Amount  of  Time  for  Physical  Pursuits        ....  200 

for  Practical  Pursuits        ....  200 

Organization  of  Indoor  Studies   ......  201 

Hygienic  Measures  only  Passive  and  Medicinal  .         .         .  202 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  STAFF:  ITS  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION. 

Teachers  the  Source  of  the  School's  Spiritual  Life  .        .        .        .203 

Organization  should  secure  greatest  Spiritual  Force ....  204 


xviii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Teaching  Power  determined  by          .......  205 

Power  over  Pupils'  Thought  and  Effort      .    •     .         .         .         .  206 

Power  over  the  Subject  taught 206 

Specialization  in  Teaching 208 

Training  of  Teachers  to  teach  All  Subjects 208 

Want  of  Living  Power  in  Teachers'  Knowledge        .         .         .  209 

Formal  Methods  of  Teaching  a  substitute  for  Living  Power       .  210 

Formalism  in  the  Pupils'  Learning  and  its  Effect       .         .         .  213 

Subject  Teachers  necessary  in  the  Senior  Artisan  School          .         .  2*6 

The  Training  of  Teachers 216 

in  Teaching  Personality 217 

in  Culture 219 

in  Educational  Philosophy .219 

in  the  Instruments  of  Teaching .                 221 

in  Specialized  Studies 222 

Classification  of  Special  Courses 223 

Method  of  Learning  in  Special  Study          ....  223 

Study  of  Logic 224 

Organization  of  Staff .225 

Time  allotted  to  each  Subject 225 

Each  Teacher  to  have  a  Principal  and  Subsidiary  Subject .         .  226 

Teachers  to  be  responsible  for  Games 227 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT. 

Specialization  in  Buildings  and  Equipment 229 

General  Arrangement  of  Rooms 230 

Special  Rooms- 
Gymnasium        ..........  230 

Rooms  for  Practical  Pursuits 230 

Handicrafts  and  Mechanical  Drawing         ....  230 
Practical  Mathematics  and  Mechanics         .         .         .         .231 

Lavatories;  Shower  Baths 231 

Rooms  for  Culture  Studies — 

Art:  Nature  Knowledge 231 

History:  Geography  ........  232 

English  :  Library  and  Reading-room 232 

Plan  of  School  Building 233 


CONTENTS  xix 


PAGE 


Playground 234 

Need  for  the  Discipline  of  Social  Games  ....  234 

Continuous  Use  of  Playground 236 

Playground  Games  ........  237 

Playing  Fields 238 

Need  for  Playing  Fields      .  .         .         .         .         .238 

Use  of  Municipal  Recreation  Grounds  ....  238 

School  Camps    ..........  239 

Educative  Aim  of  School  Camps  .....  239 

Camp  Pursuits 241 

Camp  Discipline .........  241 

APPENDIX. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DAY  PREPARATORY  TRADES 
SCHOOLS  OF  THE  CITY  OF  LEEDS. 

Aim  of  the  Schools 243 

Curriculum        ...                 .......  244 

Schemes  of  Work 245 

in  English  ......         .....  245 

in  Practical  Mathematics 245 

in  Practical  Geometry        ........  245 

in  Practical  Mechanics       ........  246 

in  Technical  Drawing 246 

in  Workshop  Practice 247 

Woodwork 247 

Bench  Work 247 

Lathe  Work 247 

Workshop  Equipment  for  Twenty  Boys 247 

in  Bench  Work  . 248 

in  Lathe  Work 248 

in  Forge  Work  ..........  249 

in  Metal  Plate  Work 249 

in  Moulding  and  Casting   .         . 249 

Equipment  of  Practical  Mechanics  Workroom  for  Twenty  Boys      .  250 


"Our  schools  go  all  upon  the  vocal  hitherto;  no  clear  aim  in  them 
but  to  teach  the  young  creature  how  he  is  to  speak,  to  utter  himself  by 
tongue  and  pen ;  which,  supposing  him  even  to  have  something  to  utter, 
as  he  so  very  rarely  has,  is  by  no  means  the  thing  he  specially  wants  in 
our  times.  How  he  is  to  work,  to  behave  and  do ;  that  is  the  question 
for  him,  which  he  seeks  the  answer  of  in  schools." 

— CARLYLE  in  1867. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE. 

WHEN  Agesilaus,  the  King  of  Sparta,  was  asked  what 
children  should  learn,  he  replied,  "  What  they  should  do 
being  men ".  That  wa$  over  two  thousand  years  ago. 
Many  times  since  in  civilized  Europe  men  have  felt  that 
something  was  vitally  wrong  with  the  education  of  the 
young ;  and  some  reformer,  more  clear-sighted  and  ardent 
than  his  fellows,  has  raised  his  voice  and  uttered  the  same 
pregnant  thought.  He  has  realized  that  for  most  of  us  life 
is  action,  a  practical  doing  of  practical  things,  that  edu- 
cation should  be  a  preparation  for  such  a  life,  and  that  the 
schools  of  his  time  were  out  of  touch  with  the  practical 
realities  of  life.  It  is  no  new  thing  for  the  schools  of  the 
nation  to  be  out  of  touch  with  the  needs  and  activities  of 
the  life  of  the  age.  It  is  no  new  thing  for  the  schools  to 
be  pursuing  some  worn-out  curriculum,  the  dead  bones 
of  some  traditional  s«  .  born,  it  may  be,  of  the  spirit 
of  some  previous  generation,  but,  cut  off  from  the  source 
of  its  life's  blood,  only  remaining  to- jangle  its  dry  skeleton 
before  the  reluctant  eyes  of  the  young  who,  with  their 
interests  in  the  living  world  around  them,  are  only  driven 
to  its  embrace  by  the  threats  and  pains  of  the  rod.  At 
no  period  in  our  history  more  than  the  present  one  has 
our  national  education  had  greater  need  of  the  counsel 
of  Agesilaus,  so  oft  repeated  through  the  ages,  so  oft  un- 
heeded. 

"  What  they  should  do  being  men."     "  Are  we  then/1 

I 


•I*;"/        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

;  'sDrnc  ma}7  argfce,  ""to  put  old  heads  on  young  shoulders? 
Are  we  to  crush  the*  tender  bodies  and  minds  of  little 
children  with  the  hard  duties  and  tasks  of  manhood? 
Surely  that  were  to  deaden  and  cramp  the  expanding 
powers  of  childhood  with  burdens  too  heavy  for  them  to 
bear.  The  tender  growing  shoots  of  childhood's  nature 
should  be  nourished  in  the  fresh  breezes  and  warm  sun- 
shine of  refreshing  play.  Only  so  will  they  open  and 
blossom  forth  in  all  their  freshness,  beauty,  and  purity/' 
This  is  but  too  true,  but  it  is  only  one  side  of  the  truth. 
While  nursing  the  tender  shoots  of  childhood  and  foster- 
ing the  flower  of  youth,  we  must  not  forget  the  ripening 
fruit  of  manhood.  It  is  to  the  fruits  of  education  that 
Agesilaus  would  point  the  warning  finger.  The  goal  of 
manhood  is  not  reached  in  a  stride  and  the  child  does 
not  in  an  instant  become  a  man  ;  yet  the  path  to  man- 
hood is  there.  The  child  must  not  be  permitted  to  fly 
hither  and  thither,  tasting  all  the  sweets  of  unrestrained 
impulse  in  the  garden  of  childhood's  play,  to  find,  when 
manhood's  years  are  reached,  that  the  path  to  manhood 
has  been  untrodden,  and  that  instead  of  manhood's 
power  and  purpose  to  face  life's  battle,  there  are  only 
incapacity,  shiftlessness,  and  sloth. 

Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest.  It  is  a  strife  and  a  struggle 
on  a  path  that  ever  goes  onward  and  upward.  Toil, 
effort,  and  hardships  mark  its  steps.  Its  highest  joys  are 
the  joys  of  conquest,  and  the  greatest  virtues  are  those 
that  inspire  the  heart  and  will  to  the  most  faithful  and 
courageous  effort.  It  is  the  noblest  task  of  education  to 
fit  a  boy  to  be  "a  hero  in  the  strife  ".  Even  in  the  child, 
still  more  in  the  boy  and  youth,  should  the  school  inspire 
a  lively  faith  and  a  strong  courage  to 


....  be  up  and  doing 
With  a  heart  for  any  fate, 
Still  achieving,  still  pursuing. 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE  3 

Let  the  young  child  wander  somewhat  freely  in  the  flowery 
meadows  of  childish  joys,  but  let  us  not  be  reluctant  to 
restrain  his  wanderings  and  guide  him  to  the  narrow  way, 
leading  and  attracting  him  onward,  helping  him  over  the 
stony  places,  encouraging  him  to  face  the  dangers  and 
hardships  and  to  find  a  joy  in  overcoming  them,  inspiring 
him  with  faith  and  courage  for  a  noble  effort,  even,  if  need 
be,  constraining  him,  at  times  coercing  him,  towards  the 
goal  of  manhood's  power,  till  finally  we  may  leave  him 
with  the  strength  and  purpose  to  mount  the  way  alone. 
The  activities  and  pursuits  of  boyhood  and  youth  should 
be  ever  advancing  in  range  and  in  difficulty,  and  in  their 
demand  on  his  intelligence,  skill,  and  strength  of  will. 
Progressively  appealing  at  each  stage  to  the  interests  of 
the  child,  boy,  and  youth,  they  should  always  constrain 
him  to  keep  his  heart  and  will  steadily  fixed  on  a  higher 
skill,  a  more  complete  knowledge,  a  finer  intelligence,  and 
a  more  forceful  effort,  till,  manhood  being  reached,  they 
merge  naturally  into  life's  strenuous  work  towards  which, 
throughout  each  successive  stage  of  growth,  they  should 
have  trended,  and  for  which  they  should  have  developed 
a  fitting  power  of  head,  heart,  and  hand. 

"  What  children  should  do  being  men."  How  much 
wealth  of  educational  meaning  lies  hidden  in  that  small 
word  "do".  Knowing  and  understanding  are  but  part 
of  the  weapons  for  life.  Action  is  the  key-note  of  the 
man  who  can  cope  with  the  world,  and  it  should  be  the 
key-note  of  the  schools  that  train  for  a  life  in  the  world. 
In  practical  life  the  qualities  that  win  the  day  are  power 
of  hand,  the  practical  head,  and  a  fighting  spirit.  Yet 
how  little  does  such  strenuous  practical  action  enter  into 
the  education  given  in  our  schools,  and  especially  into 
those  schools — the  schools  for  the  children  of  artisans — 
the  pupils  of  which  most  need  these  qualities  of  head, 
heart,  and  hand  for  a  vigorous  and  active  life  in  industry. 


4  PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

It  is  to  the  artisan  schools  we  would  turn  our  reader's 
attention.  From  these  schools  come  those  millions  of 
workers  whose  hands  will  man  the  nation's  factories  and 
workshops.  From  them  come  those  millions  of  citizens 
whose  physique,  intelligence,  independence,  honesty,  and 
determination  will  make  or  mar  the  future  of  our  race. 
The  problem  of  these  schools  is  a  great  and  an  urgent 
one,  for  in  their  pursuits  and  in  the  spirit  of  their  work 
they  are  at  present  completely  out  of  touch  with  the  needs 
and  activities  of  artisan  life. 

Our  primary  schools  train  clerks,  teachers,  and  casual 
labourers.  We  all  tacitly  agree  as  to  the  two  former. 
That  they  train  the  last  will  become  evident  as  our  argu- 
ment advances.  The  schoolmaster  himself,  in  every 
thought  and  deed,  advocates  the  clerkly  ideal  of  schooling. 
Follow  him  round  his  school.  Watch  him  as  he  picks 
out  what  he  calls  his  best  scholars.  "There's  a  fine 
scholar.  He's  a  grand  lad  at  his  books.  He  will  make 
a  first-rate  teacher  "  ;  or,  "  Look  at  that  lad's  copy-book. 
Copperplate,  and  not  a  mistake  in  his  figuring.  He'll 
make  a  first-rate  lad  for  an  office  "  ;  or,  "  That  lad  ?  Oh ! 
he's  no  good  at  all.  He's  always  up  to  some  mischief, 
the  restless  young  scamp."  In  these  and  a  hundred 
similar  remarks  the  schoolmaster  betrays  his  ideals  of 
schooling.  His  good  scholars  are  those  good  at  their 
books.  He  does  not  love  the  boy  of  superfluous  physical 
energy,  whose  physical  impulses  are  itching  for  something 
to  do,  and  whose  spirit  is  restlessly  longing  for  something 
to  struggle  with.  Such  a  boy  in  the  classroom  is  wasted. 
The  only  outlet  for  his  restless  energy  is  mischief.  If 
our  primary  schools  trained  their  pupils  for  a  manhood  of 
industry,  of  hardy  physique,  and  manly  spirit,  who  would 
be  the  best  pupils  then  ?  Surely  it  would  be  those  best 
at  the  joiner's  bench  and  the  ironworker's  forge,  those 
most  eager  for  games  and  contests,  those  with  most 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE  5 

capable  hands,  ready  wits,  and  hardy  pluck.  The  bud- 
ding clerk  and  teacher  would  be  out  of  their  element  there. 
They  would,  in  practical  tasks,  gravitate  to  the  bottom 
of  the  class. 

The  parents,  no  less  than  the  schoolmaster,  are  infused 
with  the  same  worship  of  a  clerkly  education.  "  Let 
Tommy  remain  at  school  another  year,"  says  a  fond 
mother.  "  It  will  give  him  a  better  chance  in  life."  A 
better  chance  for  what  ?  To  make  of  him  a  more  skilled 
workman,  or  a  more  intelligent  craftsman,  or  a  better 
man  ?  No,  a  thousand  times  no.  The  parents'  hearts  are 
set  on  Tommy  rising  above  the  workman's  bench  to  the 
clerk's  stool,  and,  if  the  fates  are  kind,  to  the  teacher's 
desk.  They  are  smitten  with  the  worship  of  the  black 
coat  and  starched  shirt.  Ease,  respectability,  and  a  com- 
petence are  finer  things  than  a  manhood  in  rolled-up 
shirt  sleeves,  wielding  a  pick  and  spade. 

The  boy,  at  least  the  normal  boy,  is  no  less  undecided 
in  his  opinion  of  the  value  of  schooling.  His  verdict, 
however,  is  hardly  the  same  as  that  of  his  teacher.  The 
boy's  eye  is  on  the  practical  work  of  life,  on  which  he  is 
longing  to  enter.  We  may  bemoan  this  characteristic  of 
his,  but  we  cannot  help  it.  Nature  has  built  him  with 
physical  impulses  and  an  eye  for  the  practical,  and  we  must 
reckon  with  them.  School  to  the  older  boy  is  a  neces- 
sary evil,  to  be  got  rid  of  as  soon  as  possible.  He  awaits 
the  "leaving  day"  with  eagerness  when  the  attraction 
of  "  real  work  "  will  be  open  to  him.  "  Curious  taste  !  " 
we  may  say.  It  at  least  shows  the  boy  has  energy  and 
does  not  shirk  work.  He  simply  shows  a  preference  for 
the  work  to  which  his  impulses  are  urging  him.  Short- 
sightedly, perhaps,  he  recognizes  no  value  in  the  bookish 
and  scholastic  lore  of  the  schools.  "What  is  the  use 
of  all  these  things  to  me  ?  "  he  asks  ;  and  wiser  minds 
than  his  are  asking  the  same  question,  and,  though  not 


6  PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

going  the  length  of  the  boy  in  their  distrust  of  class- 
room studies,  they  are  failing  to  find  any  very  satisfactory 
answer. 

When  we  consider  the  past  history  of  the  primary 
school,  its  traditions,  and  the  training  and  ideals  of  its 
teachers,  we  are  little  surprised  that  the  spirit  of  words 
and  books  and  of  passive  desk  routine  pervades  the 
schools.  As  the  fox  trains  his  cubs  in  fox  craft,  so  the 
schoolmaster  trains  his  pupils  in  school  craft.  Each 
brings  up  his  young  in  the  ways  that  have  best  served 
him.  So  the  schoolmaster  educates  not  for  life,  but  for 
the  school.  His  ambition  is  not  the  joiner's  bench  nor  the 
mechanic's  lathe,  but  the  classroom  desk  with  its  routine 
of  bookwork.  And  this  same  spirit  and  routine  of 
school  craft  have  been  the  bane  of  all  schools  from  the 
earliest  times. 

Monks  were  good  trainers  of  monks,  but  could  they 
train  men  for  the  life  of  the  world  ?  Their  pride  was  in 
the  youth  not  too  strong  of  frame,  nor  too  active  of  body, 
studious  in  mind  and  gentle  of  spirit.  He  made  a  good 
monk.  The  learned  grammarians  of  a  later  age,  did  they 
train  for  life,  or  was  it  not  rather  for  the  pedantry  of  the 
learned  professions?  And  a  similar  tradition  is  eating 
out  the  life  of  our  modern  primary  school.  As  it  was 
in  the  past,  so  it  is  now,  and  so  it  always  will  be  as  long 
as  the  schoolmaster  caste  is  dominated  by  ideals  of  life 
other  than  those  of  the  class  they  teach.  The  school- 
master's learning  is  a  learning  of  books.  He  knows  no 
other.  He  can  teach  no  other.  To  the  life  and  spirit 
of  practical  industry  he  is  an  alien.  He  knows  little, 
and  recks  nothing,  of  those  qualities  of  head  and  hand 
that  go  to  make  the  manhood  of  industry  :  consequently 
they  have  no  place  in  his  educational  schemes. 

The  schoolmaster  loves  to  read,  write,  and  talk  about 
things.  He  little  desires  a  skill  in  handling,  shaping,  and 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE  7 

using  them.  His  is  a  power  over  words,  which,  let  us 
note,  is  only  good  if  it  gives  him  a  power  over  things. 
Too  often  he  is  content  with  the  ghostly  symbol,  the 
empty  shadow  of  the  real  substance.  His  approbation  is 
for  a  disquisition  careful  as  to  grammar,  nicely  turned  in 
style,  with  fair  store  of  erudition,  showing  a  goodly  choice 
of  words  lengthy  of  syllable,  not  too  original,  but  after 
approved  models,  and  faultless  in  spelling.  To  this  end 
and  to  similar  ends  he  trains  those  youths  whose  work  in 
life  is  of  their  hands.  But  he  abhors  the  workshop.  Its 
noise  and  bustle,  the  independent  activity  of  the  boys 
over  their  work,  the  want  of  uniformity  and  of  peaceful 
passivity  are  hurtful  to  his  soul.  He  calls  these  want  of 
discipline,  for  to  hirn  uniformity  and  conformity,  not 
the  restless  spirit  of  busy  work,  are  discipline.  He  feels 
more  at  home  when  the  bustling  life  and  activity  of  the 
workshop  give  place  to  the  quiet  passivity  and  uniform 
monotony  of  a  desk  routine.  "  Forty  feeding  like  one  " 
is  too  often  his  ideal  of  how  a  class  should  work. 

Should  there  not  be  in  the  schools  for  our  artisans 
the  spirit  of  the  workshop,  multifarious  activities  re- 
sembling those  of  real  life,  and  the  spontaneity  and 
initiative  that  come  only  from  some  measure  of  inde- 
pendent action  ?  The  virtue  of  the  artisan's  power  is  in 
actions,  not  in  words.  He  needs  power  over  things — 
power  to  understand  them  in  order  to  use  them.  He  has 
to  interpret  things  in  acts,  not  in  words.  His  work  is  to 
transform  and  use  them,  not  describe  and  explain  them. 
Yet  behind  the  doing  should  be  the  thinking,  for  imagin- 
ation and  thought  should  be  the  directors  of  our  bodily 
powers.  But  in  its  thinking  the  mind  should  come  into 
first-hand  contact  with  things  through  the  eyes  and  hands. 
Too  often  the  function  of  words  seems  to  be  to  take  the 
place  of  things,  rather  than  to  aid  in  revealing  their 
nature.  Words  may  help  in  the  thinking,  do  help,  when 


8  PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

used  with  careful  discrimination,  by  making  our  thought 
about  things  more  accurate  and  distinct,  so  that  we  per- 
ceive qualities  and  relations  that,  without  them,  would 
have  been  obscure.  But  the  influence  of  words  as 
aids  to  thought  is  greatly  exaggerated.  Gestures  and 
movements,  and  the  images,  more  or  less  sketchy,  of 
movements  are  frequently  the  symbols  of  our  thought, 
especially  of  our  thought  of  what  we  do  with  things  and 
the  use  we  put  them  to.  In  any  case  whether  we  over- 
estimate or  under-estimate  the  value  of  words,  their  place 
in  practical  life  is  plain.  They  are  only  a  means,  an  in- 
strument for  thinking  more  accurately  and  clearly  about 
things  so  that  the  mind  can  bring  the  senses  to  a  better 
perception  of  them,  and  the  muscles  to  a  more  intelligent 
and  skilful  action  on  them. 

Let  us  then  sweep  our  artisan  schools  clean  of  the 
bookish,  wordy  spirit  of  the  pedagogue  and  of  the  passiv- 
ity, monotony,  and  uniformity  of  a  desk  routine.  Let 
us  bring  in  the  active  spirit  of  the  artisan  and  craftsman, 
the  noise  and  bustle  of  action,  the  pride  in  honest  manual 
labour,  the  joy  in  a  thing  well  made,  the  individual 
movement  and  thought  of  independent  work,  the  spirit 
of  manly  strife  with  material  to  turn  it  to  use,  and  of 
human  struggle  in  hardy  contests  and  games.  So  will 
the  school  life  become  a  reflex  of  real  life  to  which  in 
some  measure  the  school  occupations  will  lead,  and  for 
which  they  will  in  part  prepare.  The  school,  then,  will 
be  the  real  world  in  miniature,  and,  as  the  real  world  has 
its  industries  and  battles,  so,  too,  will  the  school  have  its 
practical  activities  and  contests. 

It  is  important,  then,  that  education  authorities  and 
teachers  should  give  themselves  seriously  to  the  task  of 
considering  what  qualities  of  mind  and  body  are  vitally 
necessary  to  the  artisan  in  his  capacity  as  workman, 
citizen,  and  man,  and  of  organizing  a  system  of  school 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE          9 

pursuits  that  will  arouse,  foster,  and  temper  those  qualities 
in  the  young.  Speaking  broadly,  we  may  class  the 
qualities  required  by  the  artisan  for  his  life  as  Health  and 
Strength,  Practical  Intelligence  and  Skill,  and  Manly  and 
Hardy  Character.  Let  us  consider  each  of  these  in 
some  detail. 

The  physique  of  the  mass  of  the  nation  is  at  bottom 
the  measure  of  its  power.  Especially  are  physical  con- 
stitution and  power  necessary  in  those  who  are  "  the 
hands  and  limbs  "  of  a  nation.  On  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  the  workers  depends  the  vitality  of  the  future 
race.  On  the  muscle,  bone,  and  sinew  of  its  artisans  and 
craftsmen  a  nation  builds  its  industrial  and  economic  pro- 
gress. Our  workers  must  be  healthy  of  body,  vigorous 
in  vitality,  hard  of  muscle,  big  and  strong  of  bone,  force- 
ful in  action,  and  hardy  against  fatigue. 

Do  our  present  primary  schools  train  such  bodily 
qualities?  Doctors  tell  us  frankly  that  as  a  class  our 
artisans  are  undersized,  underweight,  and  lack  the  vigour 
and  hardness  of  frame  that  are  essential  to  strenuous  com- 
petitive industrial  life.  Recruiting  sergeants,  as  openly 
as  they  dare,  tell  the  same  sad  story,  and  shake  their 
heads  over  the  hollow-chested,  flabby-limbed,  weedy 
youths  that  present  themselves  to  fight  the  nation's 
battles.  Much  of  this  physical  degeneration  is  un- 
doubtedly due  to  the  unhygienic  conditions  of  life  that 
exist  in  the  crowded  industrial  quarters  of  our  large 
towns.  Underfeeding,  bad  feeding,  foul  air,  want  of  sun- 
shine, long  hours  in  hot,  ill-ventilated,  and  crowded 
factories  and  workshops,  fatiguing  work  during  the 
years  of  growth — each  has  its  devitalizing  effects  on  the 
physique  of  our  industrial  population.  At  the  same 
time  we  must  own  that  our  working-class  population 
has  not  the  love  of  fresh  air,  of  country  life,  and  of  ac- 
tive physical  recreation  that  would  counteract  to  some 


io         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

extent  the  evil  consequences  of  town  life.  We  pride  our- 
selves on  our  national  games  and  on  the  Englishman's 
love  of  exercise,  but,  as  far  as  our  artisan  class  is 
concerned,  the  national  games  are  merely  great  spec- 
tacular shows.  For  one  that  plays  there  are  tens  of 
thousands  that  do  no  more  than  watch.  Our  national 
physique  and  love  of  exercise  and  sport  are  not  to  be 
measured  by  the  qualities  of  our  paid  exponents  of  sport, 
but  by  the  physique,  habits  of  exercise,  and  love  of  out- 
door games  and  sports  of  the  ordinary  man  in  the  street. 

Such  qualities  in  a  nation  do  not  come  by  chance. 
They  are  the  result  partly  of  racial  temperament,  partly 
of  conditions  of  life,  and  partly  of  early  training.  It  is 
our  boast  that  as  a  nation  we  have  an  innate  love  of 
outdoor  life,  of  adventure,  and  of  physical  activity  ;  that 
as  a  race  we  make  good  soldiers,  colonists,  pioneers, 
travellers,  and  adventurers.  And  our  history  does  not 
belie  us  in  this.  We  believe  that  at  bottom  the  nation 
has  still  these  racial  characteristics,  but  that  the  bad 
conditions  of  our  modern  industrial  life  have  suppressed 
them  or  warped  them  into  perverse  forms.  If  this  be  so, 
there  is  much  for  social  reform  to  do,  and  much,  too, 
for  educational  reform,  so  that  early  training  may 
develop  in  our  young  an  ideal  of  physical  manhood, 
and  a  love  of  manly  games  and  sports  that  will  find  a 
fitting  reflex  in  hardy  bodies,  alive  with  healthy  physical 
impulses  and  full  of  vigorous  strength  and  vitality. 

The  primary  school  of  to-day  in  its  education  en- 
courages no  ideal  of  physical  manhood,  fosters  no  love 
of  outdoor  exercise,  and  offers  no  means  for  training  a 
hardy  and  vigorous  physique.  Follow  the  pupils  through 
the  schools  from  day  to  day  and  from  month  to  month, 
through  the  eight  years  during  which  the  state  compels 
school  attendance.  The  pupils  are  herded  together, 
mewed  up  in  classrooms,  passive  and  immobile  in  desks, 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         11 

sitting,  sitting,  ever  sitting,  listening,  reading,  and  writing 
for  five  hours  a  day,  for  five  days  a  week,  for  forty  weeks 
a  year,  for  eight  years  of  their  lives — and,  saddest  of  all, 
for  those  eight  years  when  the  body  is  calling  out  insist- 
ently for  the  means,  not  simply  to  maintain  health,  but 
to  stimulate  a  vigorous  growth.  During  the  period  of 
growth,  the  body  needs  food,  fresh  air,  and  daily  physical 
exercise,  so  that  a  rich,  pure,  life-giving  stream  of  blood 
may  be  sent  coursing  vigorously  through  all  the  tissues 
to  nourish  them  and  excite  them  to  active  life  and 
growth.  Our  primary  schools  not  only  do  nothing,  but 
do  less  than  nothing,  towards  developing  healthy  life  and 
growth  in  their  pupils.  They  promote  stagnation  of 
physical  vitality,  rather  than  encourage  vigour  of  bodily 
life.  Instead  of  energetic,  active,  outdoor  pursuits  of  a 
practical1  and  physical  character,  we  find  in  our  schools 
the  spirit  and  routine  of  a  quiescent  and  sedentary  exist- 
ence. Were  it  not  for  the  restless  energy  and  physical 
impulses  inherent  in  English  boyhood,  that  break  forth  in 
outdoor  play  and  mischief  when  the  chains  of  the  school 
desk  are  loosed,  the  health,  strength,  and  vitality  of  our 
youth  and  future  manhood  would  be  poor  indeed. 

Behind  the  strength  of  frame  should  be  a  practical 
mind  and  a  physical  skill  to  guide  it  to  effective  action. 
To  the  artisan,  practical  intelligence  and  skill  are  his  bread 
and  butter.  His  is  not  the  calm,  reflective,  and  cautious 
thinking  of  the  student  that  probes,  weighs,  and  hesitates. 
His  is  rather  the  practical  and  constructive  mind,  the 
alert  intelligence  wide  awake  to  all  impressions,  keen  to 
seize  on  those  that  count,  quick  in  judgment,  ready  in 
initiative,  fertile  in  ingenuity,  able  with  a  dozen  tricks  to 
win  success  out  of  failure,  and  prompt  in  action.  The 
organs  of  sense  and  of  movement,  the  eye  and  the  hand, 
must  work  skilfully  together,  through  an  alert,  ready,  and 
fertile  brain.  As  we  have  said,  the  artisan  must  think  in 


12          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

terms  of  action,  of  how  things  must  be  moved,  shaped, 
and  transformed,  and  of  how  ends  can  be  attained  by 
many  devices  and  accomplished  in  new  and  constantly 
changing  conditions.  And  the  thought  and  the  action 
must  often  be  so  closely  united  that  they  are  one  and  the 
same  organic  response ;  the  fitness  of  the  thought  being 
at  once  tested  by  the  fitness  of  the  act,  and  its  truth  or 
falsity,  its  preciseness  or  vagueness,  made  manifest  by  it. 

It  is  monotonous  to  ask  again  if  our  primary  schools 
give  serious  attention  to  the  training  of  such  a  practical 
intelligence  and  skill,  vital  to  the  pupils  as  future  artisans, 
and  vital  to  the  well-being  of  the  nation.  Thousands  of 
boys  are  launched  every  year  into  the  vortex  of  industrial 
competition  with  no  skill,  no  initiative  and  resource,  no 
training  in  practical  work,  and  no  habits  of  practical 
industry.  They  are  cast  out  from  our  schools  to  earn  a 
few  shillings  a  week  as  messengers  or  errand  boys,  left  to 
pick  up  the  virtues  of  practical  industry  as  chance 
wills  it. 

The  waste  of  boy  life  in  our  working-class  population 
is  appalling.  The  State  forces  the  young  boys  into  its 
schools,  feeds  them  with  a  bookish  learning,  and  trains  in 
them  the  sedentary  routine  of  a  clerkly  life.  The  pupils 
learn  to  read  and  sum,  and  to  wield  nothing  mightier  than 
a  reluctant  pen.  To  boys — who  at  thirteen  or  fourteen 
years  of  age  will  be  left  stranded  to  face  life  with  the 
streets,  the  prison,  or  the  casual  ward  as  a  possible 
goal — the  State  offers,  in  its  schools,  the  pedantry  of 
grammar  and  spelling,  the  culture  of  the  immaculate 
copy-book,  and  the  niceties  of  expressive  reading.  Surely 
no  historic  age  could  present  a  more  cruel  irony  than 
this. 

When  one  reflects  on  the  tens  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  casual  labourers  who  are  struggling  to  live  on  the 
verge  of  starvation,  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         13 

that  the  first  aim  of  education  should  be  to  train  the 
power  to  live.  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  life. 
Important  as  literary  culture  is,  not  only  to  the  leisured 
class  but  to  the  great  mass  of  the  nation,  yet  it  should 
take  a  place  secondary  to  the  vital  need,  viz.  the  power 
of  body  and  mind  to  compete  in  the  main  struggle  of 
life,  the  struggle  for  a  livelihood.  Can  we  blame  that 
increasing  army  of  casual  labourers  and  unemployables  if, 
miserable,  outcast,  helpless,  and  discontented,  they  turn 
round  on  society  and  ask,  "What  have  you  done  for  us? 
You  forced  us  into*  your  schools.  You  taught  us  reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic,  spelling  and  grammar.  Of  what 
use  to  us  are  these?  Will  they  keep  the  cold  out  of  our 
bones  and  put  food  into  our  stomachs  ?  "  If  the  inarticu- 
late mutterings  of  discontent,  hopelessness,  and  misery  in 
this  great  mass  could  formulate  themselves,  they  would 
pronounce  the  utter  condemnation  of  all  such  schooling, 
"We  asked  for  bread,  and  ye  gave  us  a  stone". 

Character  is  as  important  in  industrial  life  as  it  is  in 
private  life.  Few  will  dispute  the  need  of  a  strong, 
steadfast,  and  upright  honesty  in  all  branches  of  industrial 
work.  Honest,  good,  sound  workmanship,  love  of  truth 
and  a  hatred  of  shams  are  often  spoken  of  as  character- 
istically English.  An  Englishman's  word  is  his  bond, 
and  his  work  is  sound  and  true  all  through.  "  Made  in 
England  "  is  a  guarantee  of  honest  workmanship.  Such 
was,  and  we  hope  still  is  and  will  be,  the  Englishman's 
ideal  of  industrial  and  commercial  honesty,  for  such 
honesty  is  vital,  not  only  in  business,  but  in  every  branch 
of  public  and  private  life.  True,  honest  work  springs  from 
a  love  of  work  for  work's  sake,  and  a  pride  in  perfection 
of  workmanship.  The  true  spirit  of  work  is  to  work  for 
the  work  itself,  and  to  strive  with  the  whole  heart  after  a 
higher  perfection.  The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  it  is 
true,  but  his  heart  should  be  in  his  work,  not  in  his  pay. 


14          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

The  spirit  of  good  work  begets  in  the  workman  a  joy 
in  strenuous  effort,  a  pride  in  a  task  well  done,  and  a  re- 
spect for  his  own  skill.  Imbued  with  it  he  gives  willingly 
of  his  best.  He  spares  neither  time  nor  energy  to  make 
himself  a  master  of  his  trade.  He  has  a  contempt  for  the 
slovenly,  the  careless,  the  sham,  and  the  shoddy.  Such  is 
the  spirit  which  animates  the  amateur  and  the  artist. 
The  mountaineer  and  the  traveller  pit  their  powers  against 
the  forces  of  nature  for  the  very  joy  and  pleasure  of  the 
contest.  The  true  sportsman  spends  himself  freely  for  the 
love  of  the  game.  The  artist  looks  only  to  the  perfection 
of  his  art.  Such  a  spirit  we  would  have  inspiring  the 
artisan  and  craftsman  in  their  tasks.  We  would  see  the 
artisan  trained  to  be  proud  of  himself  as  a  master  of  his 
hands,  proud  of  his  work  and  skill,  and  would  welcome  the 
self-confidence,  the  self-reliance,  and  the  independence 
that  such  pride  would  beget.  "  The  glory  of  a  workman, 
that  he  does  his  work  well,  ought  to  be  his  most  precious 
possession  ;  like  '  the  honour  of  a  soldier/  dearer  to  him 
than  life."1 

The  moral  strength  of  a  nation  rests  largely  in  the 
independence  of  its  citizens.  There  is,  however,  a  false 
as  well  as  a  true  independence.  It  is  the  latter  kind  that 
stiffens  the  moral  backbone  of  a  people  ;  the  former  saps 
the  vitality  of  their  moral  strength.  It  is  not  a  true 
independence  that  flings  aside  all  restraint.  To  give  way 
to  unrestrained  impulse,  the  love  of  excitement,  the 
pleasure  of  the  moment,  the  desire  for  ease,  luxury,  and 
contented  living,  is  to  be  a  slave  of  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil.  True  independence  springs  from  an  inner 
spiritual  strength  that  accepts  duty  as  a  law  of  life,  and 
holds  to  it  through  good  and  evil,  through  pleasure  and 
pain.  The  highest  freedom  is  enjoyed — in  the  fullest 
sense  of  enjoy — when  the  law  of  duty  becomes  a  free, 
1  Carlyle,  "  Shooting  Niagara,  and  After  ". 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         15 

willing,  and  strenuous  expression  of  our  own  nature. 
Then,  indeed,  is  the  service  of  duty  "  perfect  freedom  ". 
A  freedom  apart  from  duty  is  a  licence  to  every  ap- 
petite, impulse,  and  craving  to  satisfy  itself  regardless  of 
the  claims  of  a  higher  life. 

There  are  but  too  evident  signs  that  the  restless  spirit 
of  the  age  is  seeking  to  free  itself  from  all  restraint. 
Doctrines  our  fathers  held  inviolably  sacred  are  not  only 
questioned,  but  contemptuously  dismissed.  Parents  hesi- 
tate to  curb  their  children's  freedom  of  action.  Children 
assert  an  early  independence  from  the  control  of  their 
elders.  Nor  in  the  overthrow  of  external  restraints  is  an 
inner  sense  of  duty  manifesting  itself.  Men  and  women 
and — what  should  give  social  reformers  and  educationists 
pause — the  rising  generation  fling  themselves  into  the 
pursuit  of  excitement,  amusement,  and  pleasure  in  a  way 
that  would  astonish  our  more  strait-laced  forefathers. 
Duty  is  an  irksome  necessity  grudgingly  performed ; 
work  a  means  to  find  a  wherewithal  for  indulgence  for 
which  leisure  is  the  opportunity.  Leisure,  not  work,  is 
becoming  the  real  business  of  life ;  and  pleasure,  not  duty, 
its  end. 

The  Stoic,  the  historic  ideal  of  a  self-contained  in- 
dependence, found  his  source  of  strength  and  happiness 
in  himself.  He  sought  to  be  master  of  himself  and  of  all 
the  world  could  bring  him  of  pleasure  and  pain.  He 
held  himself  free  to  take  or  to  leave.  The  modern 
turns  his  eyes  to  the  things  of  the  world  for  his  happiness. 
He  measures  his  world  by  the  fulness  and  intensity  of 
the  excitement  and  amusement  it  gives  him.  In  failure 
he  denounces  his  luck  or  lack  of  opportunity,  and  looks 
not  to  his  own  weakness.  Vice,  misery,  drunkenness  and 
all  evil  are  thought  of  only  as  the  results  of  the  conditions 
of  life.  The  submerged  is  what  his  environment  alone 
has  made  him.  Hence  the  trend  of  thought  and  of  social 


16         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

and  political  action  is  to  seek  salvation  through  an  im- 
provement in  external  conditions. 

Like  all  half  truths,  such  a  doctrine  is  the  worst  of  lies. 
Much  in  social  regeneration  and  in  the  upbringing  of  the 
young  depends  on  an  environment  that  will  give  full 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  mental  and  physical 
proclivities.  For  all  real  advance,  however,  the  social 
and  educational  reformer  must  look  to  the  spirit  of  duty 
and  effort  within  each  individual  soul,  and,  collectively, 
within  the  national  conscience  and  will.  Legislation,  by 
grandmotherly  leading-strings,  cannot  eradicate  the 
spirit  of  the  gambler,  spendthrift,  drunkard,  and  idler. 
You  cannot  help  a  man  who  lies  down  and  who  feels 
within  himself  no  manly  impulse  to  struggle  to  his  feet. 
Progress — spiritual,  intellectual,  or  whatever  else  it  be — 
comes  from  the  inner  impulse  to  meet  life  more  courage- 
ously, effectively,  and  fully.  So,  too,  with  the  young,  the 
outer  opportunities  for  development  should  be  joined  to 
an  inner  effort  to  rise  to  higher  things.  Their  eyes 
should  be  turned  to  duties  to  be  done,  work  to  be 
accomplished,  and  perfection  to  be  striven  for.  Their 
hearts  should  be  fired  to  high  purpose  and  their  wills 
disciplined — by  the  discipline  of  inspiration  rather  than 
of  restraint — to  a  manly  and  zealous  performance. 

Especially  should  the  spirit  of  duty,  of  effort,  of  work, 
of  manly  purpose  be  strongly  around  pupils  in  the  later 
years  of  school  life.  During  this  period,  when  the  sense 
of  personal  freedom  is  increasingly  asserting  itself,  the 
school  should,  in  the  spirit  of  its  life,  in  its  studies, 
pursuits  and  occupations,  present  a  field  of  duties  and 
work  in  which  its  pupils  will  willingly  and  joyfully  spend 
themselves  in  zealous  effort.  The  boy  should  not  have 
to  be  dragged  to  school  ;  he  should  not  go  to  his  school 
tasks  grudgingly  and  under  compulsion.  The  boy  is  no 
idler.  He  does  not  shirk  work.  We  must,  however, 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         17 

remember  that  the  energy  with  which  he  will  fling  himself 
into  duties  and  tasks  is  in  proportion  to  his  sense  of  their 
value  to  him ;  and  only  from  a  wholehearted,  willing 
performance  will  spring  the  joy  of  true  work,  a  pride 
in  increasing  power,  and  a  true  sense  of  responsibility 
and  independence  that  honours  duty  and  work  before 
pleasure  and  amusement. 

In  industry,  in  the  competition  of  the  world,  and  in  the 
individual  soul,  life  is  always  a  struggle  for  mastery. 
We  master  nature's  forces  and  turn  them  to  use  by  our 
strength,  skill,  and  intelligence.  We  compete  with  our 
fellows  in  various  capacities.  Within  ourselves  we  seek 
to  conquer  the  lower  to  attain  the  higher  self.  In  this 
constant,  many-sided  battle  it  is  the  keen,  manly,  fighting 
spirit  that  wins.  England  prides  herself  on  the  pluck 
and  grit  of  her  sons.  To  their  fighting  spirit  she  owes 
her  vast  empire,  and  her  splendid  roll  of  world  fighters 
and  explorers.  By  the  fighting  enterprise  of  her  workers 
and  captains  of  industry  she  has  made  her  world  position 
in  commerce.  A  strong  fighting  spirit  is  the  finest  asset 
an  industrial,  commercial,  and  colonizing  nation  could 
have,  and  it  is  the  highest  duty  of  a  national  education  to 
arouse  and  foster  it  in  the  young.  It  should,  however, 
be  developed  in  an  atmosphere  of  honour,  chivalry,  and 
fair  play.  In  its  strength  it  should  inspire  the  boy  to  set 
his  teeth,  and,  with  his  back  to  the  wall,  determine  he  will 
never  be  beaten.  It  should  be  generous  enough  to 
scorn  the  mean  cunning  and  craft  of  underhand  tricks. 
It  should  lean  rather  to  a  fastidious  nicety  of  openness. 
It  should  give  hard  knocks,  and  should  take  them  and 
be  proud  to  bear  them  unmoved.  With  such  a  spirit 
success  would  be  no  success  unless  the  struggle  had  been 
worthy,  the  difficulties  and  dangers  great  enough  to  call 
for  effort,  and  there  were  scars  to  bear  witness  to  the 
keenness  of  the  fight. 

2 


i8          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

In  contrast  with  the  fighting  spirit  is  the  spirit  of  co-oper- 
ation. Man  is  a  social  animal,  and  much  of  the  work  of 
industry  and  of  national  affairs  is  performed  by  co-opera- 
tive effort.  Co-operation  is  acting  together,  but  it  is  not 
uniformity  of  action,  all  doing  alike  and  all  being  equal. 
There  is  little  real  co-operation  in  five  hundred  men  drill- 
ing at  the  word  of  command.  In  co-operation  there 
must  be  unity  and  harmony,  for  all  are  working  for  a 
common  end,  but  not  necessarily  uniformity  and  equality. 
Each  member  of  the  whole  has  his  place  and  his  part  to 
fulfil  in  the  scheme  of  things,  and  the  common  end  is  at- 
tained by  the  harmonious  fitting  and  dovetailing  into  each 
other  of  all  the  various  activities  to  make  a  combined 
action.  Behind  the  unity  of  action,  however,  must  be 
unity  of  spirit.  Each  member  must  in  spirit  identify 
himself  with  the  common  end,  and  lose — or  rather  merge 
— his  individual  self  in  the  corporate  self.  The  individual 
personalities  have  to  be  absorbed  into  a  wider  social  per- 
sonality, making  a  corporate  entity  with  corporate  feelings, 
a  corporate  intelligence,  and  a  corporate  conscience  and 
will,  distinct  and  different  from  the  feelings,  intelligence, 
conscience,  and  will  of  each  member  as  an  individual.  A 
person  on  a  committee,  as  a  citizen,  in  a  team,  should  be, 
and  usually  is,  swayed  by  feelings,  and  should  judge  by  a 
conscience,  different  from  those  that  animate  him  in  his 
capacity  as  a  private  individual.  It  is  in  this  sense  of 
sharing  in  a  corporate  intelligence,  conscience,  and  will, 
that  we  speak  of  '  esprit  de  corps '  as  the  essential  virtue 
of  co-operative  life. 

Each  member  of  a  corporate  body,  in  occupying  his 
place  and  doing  his  work,  *is  dependent  on  the  work  of 
every  other  member.  The  success  of  the  whole  action 
depends  on  each  knowing  his  place  and  function,  and 
doing  it  without  encroaching  on  the  duties  of  another. 
Hence,  in  co-operative  action,  there  must  be  a  law  recog- 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         19 

nized  by  all,  and  administered  by  officers  placed  in  au- 
thority, to  which  and  to  whom  each  member  should  give  a 
willing  and  hearty  submission.  Such  government,  how- 
ever, should  not  be  the  rule  of  the  autocrat,  nor  the 
obedience  the  subservience  of  the  slave.  Each — governed 
and  governor — in  his  place  and  function  should  carry 
out  the  law.  The  leaders  should  recognize  in  the 
obedience  of  the  followers  a  willing  submission  to  them 
as  officers  of  the  law,  as  the  followers  should  see  in  the 
commands  of  their  leaders  the  corporate  law  asserting 
itself  for  the  attainment  of  the  common  good.  The 
key-note,  then,  to  harmonious  co-operation  and  to  a 
strong  esprit  de  corps,  is  loyalty  to  those  in  authority  in 
their  expression  of  the  corporate  will. 

The  true  spirit  of  co-operation  is  much  needed  in  our 
modern  industrial  and  national  life.  There  is,  however, 
much  of  a  sham  kind  seen  where  co-operation  is  used  for 
private  and  selfish  ends.  For  example,  the  workers  in 
an  industry  combine  to  improve  their  pay  and  conditions 
of  labour  ;  the  masters  to  resist  the  pressure  and  to  keep 
up  prices  against  the  public.  Each  of  these  may  be  a 
narrow  and  selfish  kind  of  co-operation.  Both  masters 
and  workers  ought  to  consider  themselves  as  co-operators 
in  the  whole  industry,  and,  further,  should  subordinate 
the  good  of  those  inside  the  industry  to  the  welfare  of 
the  public  as  a  third  party  in  the  co-operation.  The 
function  of  an  industry  is  to  provide  for  some  want  of 
the  public,  and  the  duty  of  all  concerned,  masters  and 
workmen,  is  to  provide  an  honest  article  at  an  honest 
price.  The  workmen  should  be  as  much  concerned 
about  the  honesty  of  their  work,  and  the  reasonableness 
of  the  price,  as  about  their  wages  and  the  conditions  of 
labour.  The  masters  should  look  to  the  welfare  of  their 
workmen  and  justice  to  the  public  with  as  keen  an  eye 
as  to  the  size  of  their  profits.  The  public,  as  the  third 

2  * 


20          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

factor,  should  raise  their  minds  beyond  price  and  quality 
to  the  interests  of  both  masters  and  men.  Each  party, 
then,  has  its  duties  to  the  other  parties,  as  well  as  its 
rights.  Human  nature,  however,  is  rather  prone  to  think 
of  rights  first,  and  of  duties  when  it  must.  There  is  much 
need  of  a  moral  discipline  that  will  give  a  fuller  en- 
lightenment, a  wider  and  less  selfish  social  view,  a  more 
healthy  spirit  of  trust  and  confidence  in  one's  fellows, 
and  a  stronger  loyalty  and  public  esprit  de  corps. 

The  qualities  of  character,  then,  that  are  eminently 
necessary  to  an  effective  practical  life  in  industry  and 
public  affairs,  are  a  spirit  of  truth  in  work  and  of  perfection 
in  workmanship,  an  independence  based  on  a  strong  sense 
of  duty,  a  strenuous  and  determined  fighting  spirit  to 
press  forward  to  success  in  all  enterprise  by  all  honourable 
means,  and  a  loyal  and  trustful  esprit  de  corps  with  no 
narrow  class  limitations.  We  are  to  ask  whether  the 
present  primary  school  fosters  and  tempers  such  character- 
istics, either  by  the  tone  of  its  work  or  by  the  nature  of 
its  pursuits.  As  in  the  promotion  of  a  vigorous  health 
and  an  active  strength,  and,  again,  in  the  development  of 
an  alert  and  resourceful  intelligence  and  practical  skill, 
so,  also,  in  the  formation  of  a  character  to  meet  the  trials 
of  work  and  life,  the  primary  school  is  found  wanting. 
Neither  in  the  tone  of  its  work  and  discipline,  nor  in  the 
nature  of  its  pursuits  and  occupations,  does  the  school  of 
to-day  fit  its  pupils  in  character  for  the  practical  life  they 
will  have  to  live. 

The  tone  of  work  and  of  discipline  that  seems  more 
and  more  to  prevail  in  our  schools  is  inclined  rather  to 
weaken  the  ties  of  duty,  and  to  relax  the  strenuousness  of 
effort,  than  to  strengthen  them.  Duty,  effort,  work, 
hardship,  are  losing  their  hold  on  the  nation's  schools ; 
and  play,  amusement,  and  pleasurable  excitement  — 
falsely  called  interest — are  becoming  more  and  more  the 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         21 

recognized  appeals  to  learning.  How  can  it  be  otherwise 
when  self-indulgence,  amusement,  ease,  and  luxury  are 
increasing  their  sway  over  the  parents  and  the  children 
out  of  school?  Parents  have  almost  given  up  their 
duty  of  giving  serious  attention  to  the  upbringing  of  their 
children.  It  is  too  irksome  a  task,  and  entails  too  much 
continual  worry  and  inconvenience.  It  is  much  easier  to 
soothe  the  conscience  and  smooth  the  daily  path  by  hand- 
ing over  the  whole  responsibility  to  those  who  are  paid 
for  it.  So  the  children  early  go  their  own  way,  which  is 
the  way  of  self-indulgence. 

The  same  canker  is  rotting  the  strength  of  the  school 
work  and  discipline.  Once  duty  and  work,  with  a  stern 
discipline — narrow  and  often  mechanical,  it  is  true — were 
the  marks  of  school  life.  The  pupils  won  their  learning 
by  labour.  In  many,  doubtless,  it  begot  a  lifelong  de- 
testation of  study.  In  some,  learning  was  prized  as  a 
precious  jewel  to  be  sought  with  an  eagerness  in  proportion 
to  the  difficulty  of  the  task.  The  swing  of  the  pendulum 
has  brought  measures  and  evils  of  an  opposite  kind. 
Our  textbooks  on  education  tell  us  that  pupils  should 
play  at  work,  that  lessons  should  please  and  amuse,  that 
teachers  should  tickle  the  fancies  and  excite  the  palates 
of  their  pupils  to  attract  their  interest  and  win  their  atten- 
tion. Misbehaviour  should  be  reasoned  with.  The 
strong  word  of  reproof,  the  firm  constraining  hand,  the 
stern  will  holding  the  youth  to  work  and  duty  should 
give  place  to  sympathy,  kindness,  and  moral  suasion, 
for  they  might  wound  the  erring  youth's  feelings,  and  pro- 
voke a  fit  of  obstinacy  or  passion.  Force,  especially 
physical  force,  would  degrade  the  humanity  in  the  boy. 
Restraint  should  be  exercised  so  gently,  it  should  be  so 
sugared  and  wrapped  up  in  the  silver  paper  of  seeming 
freedom,  that  the  wilful  youth  may  be  cajoled  into — we 
will  not  say  good  or  dutiful — but  desirable  and  convenient 


22         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

ways.  Are  we  so  much  wiser  and  better  than  our  fore- 
fathers, so  much  more  capable  and  successful  in  our 
training  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  that  we  can  dis- 
pense with  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  all  the  ages,  or 
are  our  children  made  of  some  more  refined  and  delicate 
clay  than  those  of  the  past  ? 

With  the  relaxation  in  the  discipline  of  the  home  and 
school,  can  we  wonder  that  children  grow  up  self-in- 
dulgent, wayward,  fretful  of  restraint,  seekers  of  pleasure 
and  excitement,  sullen  in  duty,  flighty  in  effort,  and  with- 
out steadfast  strength  in  their  work  ?  Our  schools  need 
a  stronger  and  firmer  tone.  Character,  like  steel, 
must  be  tempered  to  hardness  in  fire.  We  would  wish 
in  our  schools  to  differentiate  between  the  discipline  and 
pursuits  suitable  respectively  for  the  infant,  the  child,  and 
the  boy.  To  the  infant,  school  should  be  largely  a  play- 
room ;  but  to  the  boy,  and  especially  to  the  boy  looking 
forward  to  entering  work,  it  should  be  largely  a  place 
for  work,  interesting  work,  pleasant  work,  work  the  pupil 
likes  and  values,  but  essentially  work,  real,  downright, 
hard,  honest  work  demanding  effort,  toil,  and  trouble. 
And  what  boy  will  not  respond  with  effort,  toil,  and 
trouble  to  tasks  that  he  is  interested  in  and  that  he  values 
for  the  power  in  his  life  he  finds  they  bring  him  ?  The 
key-note  to  good  teaching  is  not  pleasure,  or  amusement, 
or  excitement,  or  any  other  form  of  spurious  attraction, 
but  value.  Let  the  boy  understand,  feel,  and  experience, 
with  all  the  fulness,  clearness,  and  intensity  that  he  is 
capable  of,  the  value  to  him  of  what  is  being-'taught,  and 
interest  springs  up  in  his  heart,  and  zealous  and  strenuous 
effort  follows  naturally  in  its  wake.  There  is,  then,  no 
need  to  force  him  to  work  and  compel  him  to  duty.  He 
will  force  and  compel  himself,  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
teacher's  influence  and  example  finds  its  truest  work  in 
pointing  the  way  to  higher  and  greater  tasks,  and  in  stiffen- 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         23 

ing  and  hardening  the  inner  impulse  to  a  more  strenuous 
and  determined  effort. 

Our  ease-loving  parents  and  teachers  inoculated  with 
the  modern  virus  of  "  interest "  will  find  food  for  reflec- 
tion in  comparing  our  soft-hearted  methods  of  mental 
and  moral  discipline  with  the  sterner  measures  of  the 
schools  of  an  older  age.  Lucian  gives  us  a  vivid  account 
of  the  discipline  of  youth  in  Sparta. 

"  But  especially  guard  lest  you  ridicule  if  you  see  young 
men  beaten  upon  a  trestle  and  flowing  with  blood,  while 
fathers  and  mothers  stand  hard  by  and  are  not  undone 
by  that  which  occurs,  but,  rather,  if  their  children  do  not 
endure  the  blows,  they  chide,  and  they  pray  their  off- 
spring to  be  adequate  for  their  toil  as  long  as  possible, 
and  to  be  patient  under  suffering.  Many,  indeed,  in  the 
past,  because  they  have  not  deemed  it  honourable  while 
still  alive  and  under  the  eyes  of  their  relatives  to  become 
weary  and  to  yield  to  their  bodies,  have  died  in  the  contest. 
You  will  see  the  statues  of  such  heroes  set  up  in  Sparta, 
and  their  names  publicly  honoured. 

"When  you  see  these  customs,  neither  suspect  that 
they  are  mad  nor  say  that  they  endure  suffering  without 
adequate  cause,  nor  that  a  tyrant  compels  them,  nor  that 
their  enemies  enforce  it  on  them.  Lycurgus,  their  law- 
giver, will  speak  many  rational  words  in  behalf  of  their 
customs ;  how  from  a  plain  understanding  of  the  neces- 
sities of  the  case  he  chastises  the  youth ;  how  he  is  no 
enemy ;  that  he  does  this  not  from  hatred,  nor  does  he 
institute  it  to  waste  to  no  purpose  the  youthful  energy  of 
the  body  politic,  but  he  does  this  because  he  considers 
that  those  who  shall  save  their  fatherland  must  be  most 
patient  and  superior  to  all  suffering." 

Apart  from  the  enervating  character  of  the  modern 
school  discipline  and  work,  the  pursuits  of  school  life  are 
little  calculated  to  foster  the  hardier,  more  vigorous, 


24         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

spirited,  and  manly  virtues  in  our  boys.  An  indoor 
sedentary  life  of  books,  of  reading  and  writing,  and  of 
listening  will  not  arouse  a  keen  fighting  spirit  and  a 
manly  pluck  and  hardihood.  Nor  will  the  class-room 
studies  inspire  any  strong  and  active  feeling  of  loyalty 
and  esprit  de  corps.  Loyalty  and  esprit  de  corps  require 
a  freer  and  more  spontaneous  outflow  of  impulse,  a 
warmer  and  more  intense  outpouring  of  feeling,  a  more 
active  display  of  initiative  in  action,  and  fuller  oppor- 
tunities for  the  accepting  of  responsibilities  than  are  pos- 
sible in  the  passive  obedience  of  the  class-room  discipline. 
For  an  active  and  intense  corporate  spirit  there  should 
be  pursuits  and  occupations  which  the  boys  can  manage 
largely  themselves,  in  which  there  is  a  kind  of  government 
centred  largely  in  their  own  members,  and  in  which  the 
impulses  and  activities  of  the  boys  can  find  a  free  and  spon- 
taneous outlet  in  ways  approved  by  the  corporate  consci- 
ence. Such  opportunities  are  given  in  the  sports,  games, 
and  contests  of  the  gymnasium  and  playing  fields,  and  in 
the  societies  and  clubs  for  natural  history,  sketching,  ram- 
bling, photography,  and  the  like  that  should  be  lively 
adjuncts  to  every  school. 

To  cultivate  the  hardier  and  more  manly  elements  of 
character,  we  must  look  to  pursuits  more  vigorous  and 
stern,  more  full  of  strife  and  struggle,  and  with  more  appeal 
in  them  to  the  virility  innate  in  all  boys  than  the  culture 
studies  of  the  classroom.  Handicrafts  calling  for  a 
mastery  of  different  materials  from  soft  clay  to  hard  oak 
and  tough  iron — skill  in  which  only  comes  by  patient 
and  persistent  effort  long  continued  day  after  day  and 
after  many  failures — provide  an  excellent  training  in 
determination  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  practical  end. 
To  handicrafts,  too,  we  must  look  for  the  development 
of  a  pride  in  manual  work  and  skill,  and  for  inspiring  in 
the  pupils  ideals  of  perfection  and  honesty  in  workman- 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         25 

ship.  To  handicrafts  we  must  add  those  games  and 
contests,  the  essential  feature  of  which  is  struggle,  but  a 
struggle  in  which  physical  strength  and  skill  are  guided 
and  enforced  by  intelligence  and  spirit.  Boxing  and 
wrestling  contests,  football,  hockey,  and  cricket,  and 
most  of  the  struggling,  fighting,  scrambling,  and  tussling 
games  native  to  English  soil  and  character  are,  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  an  education  of  body,  mind,  and 
spirit.  They  demand  strenuous  physical  exertion  and 
so  develop  health  and  strength.  Success  in  them  requires 
an  alert  mind,  ready  and  ingenious  in  resource  and 
quick  in  responsive  action.  Above  all  they  stimulate 
the  fighting  spirit  of  the  youth,  harden  his  courage, 
temper  his  passions,  and  fire  a  strong  and  loyal  esprit  de 
corps.  Born  of  the  virility  of  the  English  character  they 
are  the  truest  means  for  maintaining  it  unimpaired. 

Many  mothers,  and  not  a  few  fathers  of  the  more 
grandmotherly  kind,  will  doubtless  object  to  the  danger 
of  knocks,  blows,  bruises,  and  even  of  greater  damage  to 
body  and  limbs.  It  is,  however,  largely  because  of  this 
element  of  danger  that  sports  appeal  to  the  English 
youth,  and  it  is  largely  in  this  element  of  danger  that  the 
value  of  contests  and  games  lies.  They  teach  a  boy  to 
take  a  blow  without  whining  and  bearing  ill-will,  to 
stand  up  for  himself  and  face  odds  with  a  certain  reck- 
lessness of  danger  without  which,  as  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson 
rightly  says,  "  you  cannot  be  sure  in  the  common  run  of 
men  of  courage  on  a  reasonable  occasion  ". 1 

"  But  would  you  have  boys  fight  with  each  other  ?  "  asks 
the  humane,  pain-fearing  mother.  Certainly,  madam  ;  and 
why  not  ?  There  is  nothing  wrong,  degrading,  or  unwhole- 
some in  fighting  and  in  giving  and  taking  hard  knocks 
and  blows.  Fighting  calls  out  all  that  is  in  a  youth, 
all  that  is  best  and,  it  may  be  at  times,  all  that  is  worst, 

1  "  Virginibus  Puerisque," 


26          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Evil  comes  if  bad  blood  and  foul  passions  are  roused. 
Hence  the  fight  round  the  school  corner  often  does  harm, 
for  the  spirit  of  fair  play  and  self-restraint  is  not 
infrequently  swept  aside  by  the  hot  rivalry  and  re- 
vengeful passions  aroused.  But  the  more  the  self  is 
stirred  to  its  depths,  the  greater  perhaps  is  the  danger 
of  the  will  being  overwhelmed  by  the  flood  of  passion, 
but  the  greater,  too,  is  the  discipline  of  strength  if  the 
reins  be  held  wisely  and  firmly.  To  fight  under  rule, 
under  discipline,  and  under  the  restraint  of  a  moral 
atmosphere  of  scrupulous  fair  play  holds  the  evil  passions 
in  check,  and  guides  the  fighting  spirit  to  an  honourable 
display.  Thus,  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  those 
who  supervise  the  contests  and  games  of  boys  is  to 
cultivate  among  them  a  code  of  honour,  and  to  deal 
decisively,  and  yet  in  a  manner  to  impress  the  boys  and 
win  their  sympathy,  with  any  attempt  at  meanness,  any 
display  of  passion,  any  show  of  overbearing  manner,  or 
any  exhibition  of  unrestrained  triumph. 

Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  games  and  contests  in 
the  education  of  youth,  and  no  education  is  complete 
without  them.  Together  with  a  thorough  course  of 
handicrafts  with  varied  materials,  they  form  an  essential 
part  of  the  training  for  artisan  manhood,  or,  indeed, 
manhood  of  any  kind.  We  complain  of  the  classroom 
studies  in  that  they  foster  the  sedentary  spirit  and  habit, 
not  only  in  the  body,  but  in  the  intelligence  and  character 
as  well.  They  are  necessary  in  an  age  of  culture  and 
civilization,  but,  being  necessary,  there  is  all  the  greater 
need  for  a  strong  antidote.  Handicrafts,  practical  pursuits, 
games  and  contests  are  the  antidote  to  stimulate  all  those 
qualities  of  body  and  mind  that  are  left  unexercised  by 
the  tasks  of  the  classroom  but  are  essential  to  an  effective 
practical  life. 

Reviewing  the  whole  of  our  argument,  we  see  that  the 


EDUCATION  AND  ARTISAN  LIFE         27 

artisan  primary  school  should  take  its  stand  on  the 
principle  of  training  power — power  of  head,  heart,  and 
hand — for  a  practical  life  in  a  practical  world  of  work, 
industry,  competition,  and  co-operation.  Its  means  are 
the  workshops,  workrooms,  gymnasium,  playground  and 
playing  fields  in  which,  through  practical  and  physical 
pursuits,  health  and  strength,  practical  skill  and  intelli- 
gence, and  a  manly,  hardy  spirit  will  be  trained.  These 
pursuits  should  be  no  mere  addenda  to  the  school, 
extras  provided  for  recreation  and  amusement  and  for  a 
pleasing  change  from  the  classroom  study,  or  as  a 
medicinal  tonic  to  be  taken  in  small  doses  a  few  times 
each  week.  They  are  to  be  considered  as  part  of  the 
real,  serious  work  of  the  school,  vital  and  essential  to  the 
very  idea  of  education.  So  fundamental  are  they  that 
the  curriculum  and  time-table  should  be  organized,  the 
staff  trained  and  selected,  the  school  buildings  planned, 
and  the  equipment  designed  with  the  practical  and 
physical  end  largely  in  view.  We  would  not  shut  out 
from  the  school  the  higher  spiritual  life  of  culture.  The 
culture  of  books,  the  instruments  of  learning,  the  national 
tradition  of  history,  the  wider  outlook  on  world  affairs 
and  on  nature  are  every  man's  inheritance.  We  only  wish 
to  place  the  conception  of  a  practical  and  physical  man- 
hood alongside  that  of  a  manhood  of  culture,  and  to 
give  to  it  in  the  school  a  position  commensurate  with 
its  importance  in  life  and  the  strength  of  its  appeal  to 
the  human  nature  in  the  boy  and  man. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL :  ITS  PLACE  AND  FUNCTION. 

THE  educational  needs  of  a  town  can  be  effectively  met 
only  by  an  organization  of  educative  institutions,  designed 
to  serve  the  needs  of  each  great  class  of  its  inhabitants. 
An  inefficient  organization — whether  in  the  kinds  of 
schools  provided  or  in  the  internal  working  of  each — 
means  wasteland  that  saddest  and  most  sinful  of  all 
wastes  which  throws  a  large  number  of  youths  on  the 
world,  ill-prepared  to  do  the  work  the  world  demands  of 
them.  One  principle,  and  one  principle  only,  should 
inspire  our  authorities  in  every  part  of  their  educational 
administration.  Every  school — primary  or  secondary — 
should  do  all  in  its  power  to  prepare  its  pupils  to  enter 
with  fully  developed  faculties  on  the  work  of  manhood. 

Manhood  is  a  broad  term.  It  covers  the  whole  aim 
of  every  kind  of  education  for  boys.  The  very  breadth 
of  its  meaning  raises  the  question  of  its  content  in  relation 
to  each  kind  of  school.  All  must  agree,  however,  that 
its  meaning  must  have  reference  to  the  conditions  of 
modern  life.  We  cannot  set  the  clock  back  even  if  we 
would.  Life  has  to  be  faced  as  it  is.  Historians  and 
philosophers  may  discuss,  if  they  wish,  classical  and 
mediaeval  conceptions  of  manhood,  but  what  most  con- 
cerns us  is  the  type  of  manhood  that  will  be  most  effective 
in  carrying  on  the  work  of  modern  life. 

Modern  life  presents  to  us  a  most  confusing  complexity. 
The  activities  man  may  be  engaged  in  are  as  many  and 

28 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  29 

varied  as  the  most  fanciful  imagination  can  desire,  and 
demand  the  development  of  a  many-sided  interest  and 
power.  Three  classes  of  activities,  however,  stand  out  pre- 
eminently as  being  those  in  which  every  man  should  engage 
if  he  is  to  realize  his  potential  manhood  with  any  fulness. 
These  are : — 

1.  The  activities  of  a  man's  individual  life  which  he 

carries  on  in  his  own  leisure  time,  and  which 
show  his  personal  tastes  ;  they  may  be  said  to  ex- 
press his  culture. 

2.  Civic  activities,  national  and  municipal. 

3.  The  activities  of  his  profession,  business,  trade,  or 

craft ;  these  comprise  his  "  work  ". 

There  are  many  who  are  doubtful  about  including 
utilitarian  work  in  their  conception  of  education.  The 
very  mention  of  utility  gives  their  educational  consciences 
a  painful  shock.  Education  to  them  is  the  preparation 
for  a  cultured  spiritual  life  in  which  "  bread  and  butter" 
work  finds  no  place.  The  term  "  manhood,"  of  course, 
is  frequently  mentioned  in  their  educational  theory,  but 
it  is  an  emasculated  manhood  divorced  from  all  concerns 
of  daily  toil.  What  is  such  a  manhood  worth  ?  What 
appeal  to  a  virile  youth  can  a  manhood  have  that  is  un- 
sullied by  the  taint  of  utility,  that  is  dissociated  from 
those  activities  that  every  boy  of  the  middle  and  working 
classes  is  looking  forward  to  during  adolescence  as  the 
essential  and  distinctive  work  of  man's  estate,  and  that 
is  cut  off  from  those  occupations  that  the  majority  of 
men  hold  to  be  high  and  honourable  duties  and  the 
mainstay  of  a  free  and  independent  manhood  ?  Such 
a  manhood  is  but  a  dreamy  ideality  that  has  little  bear- 
ing on  modern  life,  and  is  at  heart  spurned  by  three 
parts  of  the  nation. 

Education  from  the  renaissance  to  the  nineteenth 
century  was  the  privilege  of  the  leisured  class.  For 


30          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

those  who  did  the  manual  labour  of  the  world,  an  ap- 
prenticeship was  thought  more  than  sufficient.  To 
educate  a  boy  above  his  station  was  to  violate  the 
eighteenth  century  notion  of  the  church  catechism. 
Hence  education  came  to  mean  rather  a  training  in  how 
to  spend  an  income  like  a  gentleman,  than  a  preparation 
for  earning  one  like  a  man.  Rousseau  struck  the  first 
blow  against  this  educational  snobbery.  In  the  "  Emile  " 
he  says  :  "  He  who  eats  in  idleness  what  he  has  not  earned, 
steals.  .  .  .  To  work  is  a  duty  indispensable  to  social 
man.  Rich  or  poor,  powerful  or  weak,  every  idle  citizen 
is  a  knave."  He  would,  therefore,  have  Emile  learn  agri- 
culture as  the  most  honourable,  most  useful,  and  conse- 
quently the  most  noble  of  occupations.  To  agriculture 
he  would  add  a  craft  or  trade  in  order  to  raise  him  to  a 
free  and  independent  manliness  ;  for  by  his  trade  he  will 
live  "a  free,  healthy,  true,  industrious,  and  just  man". 

In  his  insistence  on  the  duty,  dignity,  and  honour  of 
work,  Rousseau  sounds  a  note  that  will  in  the  long  run 
be  the  death  knell  of  the  traditional  conception  of  edu- 
cation. The  old  tradition  dies  hard,  and  nowhere  is  it 
more  strong,  and  its  influence  more  fatal,  than  in  the 
primary  schools.  Educational  theory  and  practice  have 
yet  to  learn  that,  to  the  earning  of  a  livelihood,  there  may 
be  brought  as  strong  and  fine  a  manhood,  as  keen  an 
intelligence,  as  pure  a  taste,  as  good  a  morality,  and  as 
wide  a  humanity  as  to  any  of  the  occupations  of  leisure. 
The  utilitarian  pursuits,  it  is  true,  should  not  make  up 
the  whole  of  life,  but  they  are  not  a  contemptible  part  of 
it  to  which  philosophy  and  education  should  be  blind. 
Rather  are  they  responsibilities  and  duties  into  which 
a  man  should  throw  his  whole  manhood,  and  from  which 
he  should  gain  a  great  and  noble  pleasure.  In  fine,  we 
claim  that  work  can  be  one  of  the  greatest  disciplines,  one  of 
the  greatest  privileges,  and  one  of  the  greatest  happinesses 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  31 

that  life  can  offer,  and  that  education  should  lead  youth 
to  the  full  enjoyment  of  these  blessings. 

Culture,  citizenship,  and  "  work  "  make  up  the  three- 
fold principle  on  which  to  organize  the  schools  of  the 
nation.  By  what  characteristics,  then,  shall  we  differen- 
tiate between  the  kinds  of  schools  ?  We  cannot  discrim- 
inate between  one  class  of  school  and  another  on  the 
grounds  of  the  kind  of  culture  and  citizenship.  These 
are  the  common  heritage  of  all.  There  is  not  one  kind 
of  literature  for  the  primary  school  and  another  for  the 
secondary.  Literature,  art,  and  knowledge  are  the  same 
for  every  one.  There  may  be  differences  of  scope  and 
degree,  according  to  the  opportunities  available  to  different 
classes  in  the  nation.  The  man  of  leisure  can  extend 
his  reading  to  the  ancient  classics  and  to  foreign  litera- 
tures. He  can  cultivate  a  catholic  taste  in  art,  music, 
and  architecture.  He  does  not  gain  thereby  a  kind  of 
culture  or  a  form  of  appreciation  different  from  that  which 
the  poor  man  should  obtain.  He  has  greater  opportunity 
and  leisure,  and  his  taste  may  range  over  a  broader  field 
and  reach  a  higher  pitch  than  that  of  his  working  brother. 
But  the  poor  man  has  his  public  libraries,  concerts,  and 
art  galleries,  and  it  is  for  education  to  see  that  he  has 
every  opportunity  to  go  some  way  on  the  road  along 
which  his  more  wealthy  neighbour  may  travel  far  with 
ease.  The  poor  man's  life  may  not  be  so  wrapped  up  in 
the  things  of  culture,  and  its  atmosphere  pervaded  so 
exclusively  with  the  spirit  of  truth  and  beauty,  yet  his 
appreciation  in  his  more  limited  field  can  be  made  just 
as  intense  as  that  of  the  rich,  and  his  pleasure  from  it 
equally  great.  We  may,  then,  discriminate  between  the 
secondary  and  primary  school  only  as  to  the  scope  of 
the  intellectual  culture  given,  and  the  degree  to  which  it 
is  carried.  There  can  be  no  discrimination  in  respect  of 
kind.  Both  classes  of  schools  begin  at  the  same  starting- 


32         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

point  and  proceed  on  the  same  road.  The  secondary 
school,  however,  can  range  wider  and  go  farther  than  the 
primary. 

A  similar  conclusion  holds  in  the  field  of  citizenship. 
The  national  sentiment  for  the  poor  cannot  be  different 
from  that  for  the  rich,  and  the  rights  and  duties  of 
citizens  are  the  same  for  all.  Primary  and  secondary 
schools  can  but  base  their  training  for  citizenship  on  the 
same  conceptions  of  national  feeling  and  duty,  and  on 
the  same  tendencies  of  youth  towards  them. 

The  utilitarian  work  of  the  various  classes  of  the 
nation,  however,  varies  enormously.  Some  occupations 
are  markedly  physical ;  others  strongly  intellectual. 
The  artisan  in  his  work  needs  skilled  strength  and  a 
practical  intelligence  in  dealing  with  materials  and 
forces.  The  business  man  requires  a  wide  knowledge 
and  an  intelligence  that  should  take  a  broad  sweep  in 
bold  flights  of  the  imagination,  and  yet  be  restrained  by 
an  acute  insight  into  practical  conditions.  The  profes- 
sional man  must  have  a  wide  and  acute  grasp  of  the 
philosophies,  sciences  and  history  of  his  branch  of  learn- 
ing— law,  medicine,  divinity,  education,  or  whatever  else 
it  may  be.  The  training  for  these  different  kinds  of 
work  varies  enormously.  The  training  appropriate  for 
each  differs  from  that  for  the  others  in  the  length  of  time 
required  for  effective  preparation,  in  the  nature  of  the 
pursuits,  and  in  the  period  of  life  at  which  it  can  best  be 
given.  Hence  schools  may  differ  markedly  with  respect 
to  that  part,  or  rather  aspect,  of  their  instruction  that 
bears  on  the  future  "  work  "  of  the  pupils. 

The  educational  problems,  then,  that  face  us  in  this 
twentieth  century  are :  what  types  of  schools  should  be 
instituted  to  satisfy  the  differing  needs  of  the  various 
classes  of  the  nation  with  respect  to  "  work  " ;  what  should 
be  the  nature  of  the  instruction  and  training  that  are  best 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  33 

suited  to  realize  the  aims  of  each  kind  of  school ;  in  what 
way  should  the  ideals  of  culture,  citizenship,  and  "  work  " 
be  effectively  blended  in  the  pursuits  of  the  school ;  and 
what  should  be  the  organization  of  teachers,  buildings, 
and  equipment  that  will  be  most  efficient  in  each  case. 

To  attempt  to  solve  all  these  problems  with  respect  to 
all  kinds  of  schools  is  impossible  in  one  treatise.  We 
are  content  to  essay  a  solution  of  them  in  the  case  of 
primary  schools  for  working-class  boys,  and  especially  for 
those  boys  who  will  enter  artisan  occupations.  The  first 
problems  we  shall  discuss,  because  they  are  fundamental 
to  all  others,  are  those  that  centre  round  the  boy  himself. 
A  training  for  future  "  work  "  cannot  with  advantage 
begin  before  the  boy's  physical  and  mental  development 
will  permit  of  his  appreciating  to  some  extent  the  need 
and  value  of  a  special  training.  It  is  little  use  forcing  a 
boy  prematurely  into  a  specialized  course.  Education 
should,  in  her  methods,  follow  the  line  of  natural  develop- 
ment. Up  to  a  certain  age  utilitarian  interests  have 
little  or  no  place  in  the  child's  mind.  The  child's 
interests  do  not  stretch  beyond  his  immediate  environ- 
ment. They  do  not  range  far  into  the  future.  Hence  a 
specialized  artisan  type  of  education  and  school  cannot 
be  conceived  in  relation  to  pupils  below  the  age  at  which 
the  future  stirs  some  inward  desire.  Below  this  age  the 
education  of  all  children  should  be  one  that  is  more  or 
less  common  to  all  walks  of  life,  and  should  be  determined 
largely  by  the  common  characteristics  of  childhood. 

Experience  with  boys  up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  points 
to  the  conclusion  that  somewhere  about  the  age  of- 
eleven — a  little  earlier  with  some,  a  little  later  with 
others — a  change  comes  over  the  boy's  outlook  on  him- 
self and  the  world  around  him.  Those  acquainted  with 
the  pupils  of  Standards  IV,  V,  and  VI  of  our  primary 
s— boys  from  ten  to  thirteen  years — know  that  the 
3 


34          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

pupils  of  the  last  class  are  more  difficult  to  manage  and 
to  interest  in  school  studies  than  those  of  the  first. 
More  tact  and  cajolery,  sympathy  and  judicious  firmness 
are  required  to  oil  the  wheels  of  discipline,  and,  to 
change  the  metaphor,  to  mask  the  stem  face  of  authority. 
This  difference  in  the  treatment  required  is  an  indication 
of  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  boy's  development. 
The  change,  however,  is  rather  one  in  the  boy's  attitude 
to  things  than  any  marked  modification  in  the  character 
of  his  external  activities. 

The  boy  of  eight  or  nine  years  is  intensely  interested, 
or  rather,  we  should  say,  attracted  by,  and  absorbed  in 
the  sights  and  sounds  and  happenings  around  him.  He 
watches,  all  eyes  ;  he  listens,  all  ears,  to  everything  within 
the  range  of  his  senses.  His  limbs  and  fingers  itch  with 
the  imitative  and  constructive  impulses  to  engage  in  the 
work  he  sees  others  performing,  and  to  experiment  for 
himself  where  opportunity  permits.  This  restless  activ- 
ity of  the  young  boy  has  not  the  seriousness  and  the  pur- 
posiveness  of  work.  He  is  serious  enough  and  earnest ; 
but  it  is  the  seriousness  of  wholehearted  play.  He  is 
irresponsibly  venting  his  impulses  in  activity,  largely 
for  the  very  joy  the  activity  itself  brings.  He  is  mainly 
unconscious  of  the  self;  and  it  is  this  very  absence  of 
self-feelings  and  self-consciousness  that  makes  him  so 
ingenuous,  his  play  so  wholehearted  and  earnest,  and 
teaching  him  so  refreshing. 

The  older  boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen  has  quite  different 
characteristics.  He  is  less  frank  and  natural,  less  playful, 
less  absorbed  by  the  things  about  him,  and  not  so  whole- 
hearted in  his  impulses.  He  is  beginning  to  be  more 
serious,  wilful,  combative,  secretive,  and  resentful  of 
authority.  To  what  is  the  marked  difference  in  the 
characters  due?  The  change,  it  seems  to  us,  is  due  to 
the  quickening  in  the  older  boy  of  the  self  impulses,  the 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  35 

first  signs  of  dawning  adolescence,  when  the  consciousness 
of  the  self,  its  feelings  and  powers,  is  awakening  to  in- 
creased activity,  to  play  an  important  and  ever-increasing 
part  in  the  development  of  the  boy's  individuality. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  self  impulses  at  this  stage  of 
the  boy's  development  is  seen  to  a  marked  degree  in  the 
swing  of  the  boy's  interests  from  the  objective  world  to 
the  subjective  self.  This  change  in  his  mental  attitude 
is  shown  most  strikingly  in  his  play,  in  his  relations  to 
his  companions,  and  in  the  choice  of  his  reading. 

To  his  companions,  the  boy  of  this  age  is  self-assertive 
to  the  point  of  being  quarrelsome,  boastful,  and  vain. 
His  way  is  always  the  right  one,  and  everybody  must 
follow  it ;  he  domineers  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  and 
is  ready  to  assert  his  will  with  the  force  of  his  fists,  by 
sullen  obstinacy,  or  by  outbursts  of  anger.  Most  people 
will  recognize  these  as  common  characteristics  of  the 
undisciplined  play  of  the  playground  and  streets  with 
boys  of  this  age. 

Self-respect,  pride,  and  vanity  are  the  chief  self-feelings, 
and  feed  their  strength  on  struggle,  strife,  rivalry,  and 
competition.  Naturally,  then,  we  should  expect  to  find 
the  boy !  inclined  to  those  combative  forms  of  activity 
that  emphasize  the  importance  of  his  "  self"  in  his  own 
eyes  and  those  of  others.  This  is  so,  and  to  a  marked 
degree.  Becoming  conscious  of  himself  and  his  powers, 
and  exaggerating  their  importance  and  value,  the  boy 
would  force  his  own  estimate  of  himself  on  his  com- 
panions, and  prove  his  worth  and  value  before  them 
in  personal  contests  of  every  form.  He  desires  to  outdo 
them  in  every  form  of  activity  native  to  boys.  He  is 
masterful  to  the  point  of  bullying,  and  loud  in  his  con- 
ceited vanity.  He  is  afraid  of  being  thought  weak, 
effeminate,  and  tied  to  anybody's  apron-strings.  He 
would  have  his  companions  believe  that  he  is  his  own 

3* 


36          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

master  and  capable  of  anything.  Hence,  he  is  open  to 
any  flattery,  and  is  touched  to  the  quick  by  sarcasm  or 
a  sneer.  He  can  be  dared  into  any  foolhardiness  or 
badness  if  the  tempter  but  know  the  right  thong  with 
which  to  lash  his  pride  and  vanity.  A  scoff  at  his 
courage  will  stir  him  to  reckless  daring,  a  skit  at  his 
goodness  to  evil  doing  that  he  secretly  loathes. 

His  games  in  a  marked  degree  indicate  his  growing 
self-assertiveness.  They  are  all  games  of  strife  and 
struggle  in  which  he  can  show  his  mastery  over  others. 
He  delights  in  nothing  so  much  as  catching  an  opponent, 
struggling  and  wrestling  with  him,  overthrowing  him  and 
holding  him  at  his  mercy.  In  this  the  older  boy  is 
strikingly  different  from  the  younger.  The  younger  boy 
of  eight  or  nine  years  is  absorbed  in  play,  and,  equally 
with  the  older,  delights  in  physical  activity,  but  he  de- 
lights in  it  more  for  the  pleasure  the  activity  itself  gives 
him.  The  older  boy  plays  to  win,  to  feed  his  self- feelings. 
Victory  stimulates  his  vanity,  and  he  exults  in  the  sense 
of  his  own  power,  in  the  flattery  of  admiring  friends, 
and  in  the  crestfallen  looks  of  defeated  opponents.  He 
shuns  defeat  and  the  chance  of  defeat  as  the  greatest  of 
evils.  He  is  loath  to  enter  a  doubtful  contest,  preferring 
a  war  of  loud  boasting.  He  is  tempted  to  win  at  all 
costs,  which  trait  in  his  nature  is  the  cause  of  the  never- 
ending  bickering  of  undisciplined  street  play. 

The  extreme  self-assertiveness  of  this  period  of  the 
boy's  life  is  exemplified,  too,  in  his  hero  worship.  The 
pirate  bully  and  the  braggart  adventurer  are  among  his 
most  admired  heroes.  The  blatant  self-assertion  of  these 
heroes,  their  rough  mastery  of  men  and  events,  and  their 
boastful  confidence  in  themselves  appeal  to  him  because 
they  are  akin  to  his  own  nature.  Sad  it  is,  but  the  meek, 
lowly,  and  humble  find  no  place  in  his  Valhalla  of  heroes. 

The  boy's  attitude  to  his  elders  is  marked  by  a  similar 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  37 

play  of  self-feelings  and  self-motives  which,  however,  as 
is  to  be  expected,  do  not  exhibit  themselves  in  the  same 
way  as  in  the  boy's  relations  with  his  equals.  His  self- 
assertion  shows  itself  in  a  more  stubborn  independence,  in 
a  desire  to  be  responsible  for  himself  and  his  own  conduct, 
in  a  growing  secrecy,  and  in  a  determination  to  have  his 
"self"  taken  into  account.  He  is  up  in  arms  at  any 
word  or  action  that  ignores  or  suppresses  the  self.  Com- 
pulsion is  answered  by  grudging  obedience,  sullen  obstin- 
acy, or  passionate  resentment.  Persuasion,  or  an  appeal 
to  reason,  on  the  other  hand,  he  approves  of.  They 
flatter  his  self-respect  by  tacitly  admitting  he  is  a  power 
to  be  reckoned  with.  Hence,  influence  at  this  stage  is  a 
wiser  and  more  effective  mode  of  discipline  than  compul- 
sion. He  will  readily  adopt  suggestions  if  left  free  to 
choose,  but  his  growing  self-respect  demands  the  option. 
He  is  very  open  to  praise,  especially  praise  before  others, 
but  very  touchy  on  the  point  of  criticism.  As  has  been 
said,  sarcasm,  a  sneer,  and  a  contemptuous  reflection  on 
his  work  cut  him  like  a  whip.  How  he  will  respond  to 
them,  whether  by  inward  revolt  or  by  renewed  efforts  to 
do  better,  depends  largely  on  his  temperament,  on  the 
person  who  utters  the  condemnation,  the  way  it  is  said, 
and  the  publicity  given  to  it.  The  teacher  can  easily 
work  on  his  love  of  praise  and  desire  to  be  first.  Any 
form  of  activity,  especially  if  it  be  competitive,  by  which 
he  can  shine  in  the  public  eye  will  stir  him  to  strenuous 
effort,  if  he  but  see  the  chance  of  success.  But  he  will 
not  court  the  risk  of  defeat.  Where  defeat  is  certain,  or 
very  probable,  he  will  treat  the  whole  contest  with  con- 
tempt, as  being  unworthy  of  his  prowess,  and,  if  he 
engages  in  it,  will  brag  of  the  deliberately  intentional  char- 
acter of  his  failure. 

Altogether,  the  boy  at  this  stage  is  a  more  difficult 
and  complex  instrument  for  the  educator  to  play  on  than 


38         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  young  boy  of  nine  or  ten.  To  be  won  over  to  the 
side  of  goodness  and  work,  he  needs  over  him  a  hand 
exercising  a  wise  authority  that  knows  when  and  how  to 
be  resolute,  and  when  and  how  to  relax  ;  a  hand  that  can 
play  on  his  feelings  with  a  delicately  firm  touch  and  with 
understanding  sympathy.  Though  more  difficult  to  con- 
trol than  the  younger  boy,  yet  there  are  in  him  greater 
possibilities  of  good,  as  well  as  of  evil.  The  crowd  of  new 
tendencies  moving  within  him  offers  to  the  touch  of  the 
educator  a  wider  range  of  feelings  on  which  he  can  play. 
And  because  they  are  the  feelings  most  closely  bound 
up  with  the  boy's  individuality,  they  are  strings  which 
will  vibrate  with  the  greatest  intensity  and  which  will 
sound  the  most  individual  and  characteristic  notes.  More 
than  in  any  previous  period  of  his  life,  the  boy  at  this  age 
is  developing  a  marked  individuality  of  his  own.  Indeed, 
it  may  be  said,  that  the  forming  of  that  individuality  is 
the  characteristic  feature  of  this  time  of  life,  and,  hence, 
the  training  of  that  individuality  towards  a  strong  and 
capable  manhood  should  be  the  distinctive  problem  for  the 
teacher  and  school  at  this  stage  in  the  boy's  development. 
From  eleven  to  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  boy  is  too 
intellectually  immature  to  assert  himself  strongly  in 
intellectual  activity,  and  his  self-feelings  are  naturally 
not  exhibited  to  their  fullest  extent  and  intensity  in  the 
different  forms  of  intellectual  rivalry.  The  period  of 
approaching  manhood  is,  perhaps,  more  peculiarly  the 
stage  of  intellectual  contest.  The  debating  society  is  an 
institution  that  appeals  more  to  young  men  in  early  man- 
hood than  to  boys  in  school.  The  boy  from  eleven  to 
sixteen  years  is  still  in  that  stage  when  the  physical 
impulses  are  most  active,  and  the  practical  and  concrete 
appeal  more  strongly  than  do  the  speculative  and  abstract. 
Hence,  it  is  in  these  fields  rather  than  in  that  of  the 
intellectual  that  his  self-assertion  is  most  freely  exercised, 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  39 

his  pride,  vanity  and  boastfulness  most  exhibited,  and 
rivalry  and  struggle  most  keen.  Into  games  and  practi- 
cal occupations  requiring  physical  strength  and  skill  he 
will  throw  himself  wholeheartedly,  and  will  give  time, 
energy,  and  pains,  to  making  himself  efficient  in  them. 
He  is  but  mildly  stimulated  by  the  intellectual  conquests 
of  the  classroom,  although  the  teacher's  praise  or  a  posi- 
tion in  class  are  feathers  in  his  cap,  though  not  great 
ones  ;  but  to  be  cock  of  the  street,  sergeant  ol  a  scout 
patrol,  corporal  of  a  boys'  brigade,  or  captain  of  a  foot- 
ball team  is  a  position  to  be  envied,  and,  if  possible,  to  be 
won.  His  hero-worship  at  this  age  emphasizes  this 
nature  of  his.  The  heroes  he  admires  are  all  men  of 
great  physical  strength,  courage,  and  daring,  and  efficient 
in  all  the  physical  arts  of  the  soldier  and  adventurer. 
Beowulf,  Hereward,  Odysseus  are  his  fancy  rather  than 
Pitt,  Howard,  Gladstone,  or  even  Gordon.  Not  that  he 
does  not  admire  intellectual  gifts,  but  they  must  be  of 
the  practical  order.  The  cunning  of  Odysseus,  the  craft 
of  Hereward,  the  strategy  of  Napoleon,  the  cuteness  of  a 
Sherlock  Holmes  are  keenly  appreciated,  and  in  his 
games  and  contests  he  places  skill  and  head-work  above 
mere  brute  strength. 

In  the  above  brief  sketch  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
boy,  it  has  been  our -object  to  show  that  the  key-note  to 
the  boy's  development  from  the  age  of  eleven  to  sixteen 
is  the  marked  quickening  of  the  self-feelings  giving  rise  to 
a  more  distinct  individuality,  which  is  most  spontaneously 
asserted  in  the  spheres  of  the  practical  and  physical. 
The  education  of  the  boy  during  this  period,  then,  must 
centre  round  these  new  forces,  and  the  problems  of  the 
school  must  be :  How  should  these  quickening  self- 
forces  be  reckoned  with,  and  to  what  end  and  by  what 
means  should  they  be  trained  ?  It  is  certain  they  can  be 
neither  ignored  nor  suppressed.  To  ignore  is  to  leave 


40          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  development  of  the  heart  of  the  boy's  individuality 
to  mere  chance.  To  suppress,  or  try  to  suppress,  is  to 
stunt  or  warp  the  essence  of  the  boy's  nature,  and  to 
place  oneself  athwart  the  whole  line  of  his  natural  de- 
velopment. A  wise  education  will  welcome  them  as  new 
forces,  strong  for  good  if  wisely  trained,  and  from  which 
manly,  hardy,  and  virile  manhood  can  be  fashioned,  but 
equally  strong  for  bad  if  given  a  wrong  bent.  As  they 
are  the  key-note  to  the  boy's  development,  the  occupa- 
tions, methods,  and  discipline  of  the  school  must  concen- 
trate on  their  full  growth  and  right  training.  These 
should  give  full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  the  boy's  indi- 
viduality. Through  them  he  must  assert  himself  in 
struggle,  competition,  and  rivalry  with  his  companions, 
and  especially  so  in  the  spheres  of  the  physical  and 
practical.  The  discipline  of  the  school  should  not  cramp 
the  boy's  self.  It  should  be  sufficiently  loose  to  give  the 
self  room  to  expand,  and  to  feel  its  way  to  a  solid  sense 
of  responsibility.  Yet,  too  great  an  individualism  is  to 
be  avoided.  Strong  independence  and  a  keen  fighting 
spirit  are  admirable  qualities,  but  they  make  a  more 
perfect  manhood  when  blended  with  the  spirit  of  chivalry, 
honour,  and  loyalty.  But  the  check  to  individualism 
should  not  be  by  a  suppression  of  the  competitive  self, 
but  by  the  cultivation  of  it  to  the  full  in  an  atmosphere 
of  self-restraint  and  self-discipline,  in  which  the  social 
impulses  are  encouraged  and  the  claims  of  loyalty, 
chivalry,  and  honour  are  urged  equally  with  those  ot 
the  boy's  egoistic  nature. 

The  problem  of  boys'  education  at  this  period  is 
further  complicated  by  the  different  home  environments 
of  the  working-class  boy  and  of  the  boy  of  a  higher 
social  grade.  These  different  environments  cause,  too,  a 
difference  in  the  way  the  individuality  expresses  itself  in 
the  two  kinds  of  boys.  In  the  working-class  home, 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  41 

work  and  wages  are  the  main  consideration.  Earning  the 
daily  bread  is  an  ever-present  family  problem,  and  one  of 
the  most  pressing.  Culture,  except  of  an  elementary 
order,  is  seldom  thought  of,  and  the  questions  of  choos- 
ing a  trade  or  craft  for  the  boy  and  definitely  preparing 
him  for  it,  if  entertained  at  all,  give  way  before  the  urgent 
need  of  adding  to  the  family  income.  Thus,  partly  by 
the  pressure  of  home  circumstances,  partly  owing  to  the 
parents'  ignorance,  lack  of  culture  and  indifference,  the 
working-class  boy  has  his  mind  quite  early  turned  to  the 
question  of  work  and  wages.  Naturally,  he  sees  the 
outlet  for  his  individuality,  the  way  to  independence  and 
freedom,  by  the  path  of  leaving  school  and  taking  up 
work.  The  home  gives  few  or  no  other  outlets  for 
personal  ambition.  Culture,  hobbies,  a  preparation  for  a 
higher  walk  of  life  are  all  closed  to  him.  To  work  and 
to  earn  money  give  a  free  and  almost  the  only  oppor- 
tunity for  independence,  pride,  and  vanity  to  assert 
themselves,  and,  at  the  same  time,  provide  for  his  physical 
and  practical  tendencies  ample  scope. 

In  the  home  of  higher  social  grade  adding  to  the 
family  income  is  not  a  necessity.  The  problem  rather 
turns  on  the  best  and  most  fitting  walk  in  life  for  the 
boy  to  enter,  and  on  the  business  or  profession  that  will 
open  up  the  best  chances  of  improvement  and  success. 
The  boy's  individuality,  thus,  finds  its  outlet  rather  in 
ambition  for  the  future  than  in  the  desire  to  leave  school 
at  once  and  begin  work.  At  the  same  time,  the  demand 
for  immediate  opportunities  for  asserting  the  self  are 
given  in  the  hobbies  that  are  almost  always  encouraged 
in  a  better-class  home.  With  the  boy  of  the  slums,  as 
we  have  said,  the  licence  of  the  streets  and  the  freedom 
of  work  offer  the  most  tempting  road  to  independence 
and  free  self-expression,  a  licence  and  freedom  which  are 
most  dangerous  if  the  environment  be  a  vicious  one. 


42          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

The  particular  trend  of  the  working-class  boy's  per- 
sonal ambitions  is,  thus,  seen  to  be  the  result  of  the 
narrowness  of  the  home  life  and  ideals,  which  force  the 
boy  to  develop  his  individuality  on  the  line  dictated  by 
work  and  wages.  It  might  be  expected  that  the  school 
influence  would  counteract  to  some  extent  this  narrowing 
tendency.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that,  instead,  the 
school  indirectly  and  inadvertently  accentuates  the  home 
influence.  Its  bookish  curriculum  and  mechanical  disci- 
pline drive  the  boy  to  find  an  outlet  for  his  growing 
self-impulses  and  his  practical  tendencies  outside  the 
school.  Neither  the  traditional  school  occupations  nor 
the  traditional  primary  school  Discipline  will  encourage  the 
free  expression  of  the  self-impulses  either  in  intellectual 
contests  and  work  or  in  practical  and  physical  directions. 
Silence,  passivity,  monotony,  automatism  are  too  often 
the  notes  of  primary  school  life.  The  primary  school  is, 
thus,  out  of  touch  with  the  line  of  the  boy's  natural  de- 
velopment. It  ignores  the  boy's  ambitions  for  the 
future.  The  boy  with  his  growing  sense  of  indepen- 
dence and  impulse  to  self-assertion  is  not  content  to 
accept  ideals  alien  to  his  whole  nature  and  needs.  Hence 
follows  the  natural  revolt  of  the  boy  against  the  school,  a 
revolt  which  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  tone  in  the 
upper  classes  of  a  primary  school.  Did  the  school  but 
provide  in  its  life  and  pursuits  means  by  which  the  boy 
could  satisfy  his  nature,  it  would  have  a  stronger  influence 
and  hold  on  him.  The  economic  pressure  of  the  home 
would  still  remain,  but  the  school  would  then  act  as  a 
counteracting  force  inspiring  the  boy  to  a  higher  ideal  of 
industry,  skill  and  culture,  training  him  in  habits  of 
honest  work,  and  arousing  in  the  more  intelligent  an 
ambition  to  advance  to  responsible  positions  in  their 
craft.  As  at  present  constituted,  the  influence  of  the 
school  tends  to  drive  its  pupils  into  the  streets  and 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  43 

workshops  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  the  state  per- 
mits with  an  intense  distaste  for  the  school  and  all  for 
which  it  stands. 

The  primary  school,  then,  has  a  very  special  task  to 
perform  with  pupils  aged  from  eleven  to  fourteen,  a  task 
requiring  a  curriculum,  methods,  and  discipline  different 
from  those  suitable  to  the  education  of  younger  pupils. 
To  effect  its  special  aims  thoroughly,  such  an  education 
demands  a  building,  organization,  and  staff  separate  from 
those  for  younger  pupils.  The  problem  of  training  the 
older  boy  is  as  different  from  that  of  educating  the 
younger  boy  as  is  this  latter  from  that  of  educating  the 
infant.  It  is  recognized  that  the  infant  should  have 
a  separate  building  with  an  organization,  pursuits, 
and  tone  peculiar  to  itself.  So,  too,  should  the  older  boy. 
So  long  as  the  older  pupils  remain  in  the  same  building 
and  under  the  same  disciplinary  atmosphere  as  the 
younger  pupils,  and  pursuing  school  tasks  similar  to, 
though  slightly  more  advanced  than,  theirs,  so  long  will 
their  special  needs  and  natures  fail  to  receive  the  treat- 
ment they  require.  Only  by  the  institution  of  a  separate 
senior  school  can  there  be  secured  a  sufficient  break 
with  the  curriculum,  methods,  and  discipline  traditional 
in  the  primary  school  of  to-day,  which,  it  must  be  owned, 
are  successful  up  to  a  certain  age,  but  are  out  of  touch 
with  the  natures  and  needs  of  those  pupils  who  are 
about  to  pass  into  industrial  life  and  should  be  beginning 
to  prepare  with  some  seriousness  and  definiteness  for  a 
life  beyond  the  school. 

The  whole  period  of  primary  education  should,  then, 
be  divided  into  three  stages  ;  the  Kindergarten,  the  Junior 
School,  and  the  Senior  School,  each  having  its  own 
special  problems  and  each  leading  to,  and  preparing  its 
pupils  for,  the  stage  beyond  it.  The  junior  school  should 
give  the  fundamental  instruments  of  learning  in  an 


44          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

efficient  instruction  in  reading,  writing,  elementary 
arithmetic,  and  drawing,  so  that  the  pupils  could  enter 
the  senior  school  and  use  these  arts  in  the  acquirement 
and  expression  of  knowledge.  The  senior  school  should 
— as  an  important  part  of  its  work — prepare  for  a  future 
life  of  industry  by  a  wide  range  of  physical  and  practical 
activities;  and  its  occupations,  methods,  and  discipline 
should  be  such  as  to  cultivate  a  high  ideal  of  manual 
industry,  a  pride  in  skilled  work,  a  keen  fighting  spirit, 
habits  of  independent  work  and  initiative,  and  a  spirit  ot 
fair  play,  honour,  and  loyalty. 

A  separate  senior  school  in  which  the  training  was 
designed  to  prepare  the  pupils  for  a  life  of  industry 
would  have  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  tone,  not  only  ot 
the  pupils,  but  of  the  staff.  The  staff,  only  having  to 
deal  with  older  pupils,  could,  as  in  the  case  of  a  kinder- 
garten staff,  give  particular  attention  to  the  special  prob- 
lems of  the  senior  school  and  could  develop  a  tone  and 
methods  suitable  to  its  aims.  The  head  master,  concen- 
trating his  attention  on  an  organization  of  staff,  pupils, 
and  curriculum  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  thoroughly 
practical  education,  could  suit  his  curriculum  to  the  special 
needs  of  the  district,  and  could  keep  in  touch  with  the 
requirements  of  employers  of  labour.  There  is  no  reason, 
indeed,  why  such  a  school  should  not  have  its  own 
Juvenile  Employment  Bureau  in  the  hands  of  its  own 
head  master.  On  the  pupils  the  moral  effect  would  be 
no  less  great.  The  break  from  the  routine  and  tone  of 
the  junior  school,  and  the  entrance  into  the  freer,  more 
independent,  responsible  and  practical  atmosphere  of  the 
senior  school,  at  a  time  when  the  self-impulses  are  be- 
ginning to  awaken  a  sense  of  independence  and  responsi- 
bility, would  give  an  impetus  to  the  boy's  development 
by  leading  him  to  view  the  school  and  its  work  with 
greater  seriousness.  The  practical  character  of  a  school 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  45 

training,  bearing  definitely  on  industrial  life,  would  cause 
him  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the  value  of  its  work 
and  discipline.  School  would  cease  to  be  the  distasteful 
place  it  has  become.  It  would  be  something  he  would 
feel  to  be  worth  attending ;  and,  when  the  boy  leaves  the 
primary  school  for  the  workshop,  the  appreciation  of 
school  thus  acquired  would  be  seen  in  a  better  attend- 
ance at  continuation  schools,  if  these,  in  their  turn,  main- 
tained the  practical  ideal  and  cultivated  an  atmosphere 
favourable  to  independence  and  responsibility. 

Many  other  facts  support  the  conclusion  that  the  school 
life  of  boys — and  of  girls  too — should  undergo  a  marked 
change  about  the  age  of  eleven.  With  young  children 
of  eight  or  nine  years  it  is  generally  found  that  women 
teachers  succeed  better  than  do  men.  It  is  not  suggested 
that  men  are  not  capable  of  managing  small  boys.  Many 
men  not  only  like  teaching  them,  but  show  considerable 
aptitude  in  dealing  with  them  wisely.  On  the  whole, 
however,  men  are  more  successful  with  boys  over  twelve, 
and  women  with  boys  under  ten,  which  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  about  the  age  of  eleven  there  comes  some 
marked  change  in  the  nature  of  the  boy. 

Again,  young  boys  and  girls  of  nine  and  ten  years  can, 
without  difficulty,  be  taught  together.  There  is,  of  course, 
a  difference  in  temperament  and  tendencies  between 
them,  but  the  difference  is  not  so  great  or  of  such  a  kind 
that  different  modes  of  teaching  and  management  are 
necessary.  With  boys  and  girls  over  twelve  the  case  is 
very  different.  The  boy  of  twelve  resents  female  con- 
straint and  looks  to  men  for  his  ideals  of  manly  virtue 
and  of  manhood's  occupations.  Such  a  result  is  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  quickening  of  the  self-impulses 
at  this  age.  As  the  feelings  and  consciousness  of  self 
grow  in  intensity  and  definiteness,  his  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings about  himself  are  reflected,  not  in  the  sympathy  and 


46          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

affection  of  woman,  but  in  the  strength  and  hardness  of 
man.  To  his  mother  the  boy  turns  for  affection,  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement,  but  it  is  to  his  father  or  elder 
brother  that  he  looks  for  his  ideals  of  life  and  for  guidance 
and  help  in  attaining  them. 

It  is  certain  that  after  the  age  of  eleven  boys  and  girls 
begin  to  diverge  widely  in  physical  characteristics,  in 
interests,  in  temperament,  and  in  character.  Boys  become 
more  intensely  boys,  and  girls  more  distinctively  girls. 
The  former  need  the  firmer  and  wiser  discipline  of  men, 
the  latter  the  more  discerning  eye  of  women.  Men 
cannot  train  girls  of  twelve  and  thirteen  with  sufficient 
firmness.  They  are  too  soft-hearted  and  too  open  to  the 
influence  of  feminine  ways.  Women  cannot  hold  boys 
to  their  work  with  sufficient  determination,  nor  relax  and 
tighten  the  reins  of  discipline  with  that  insight  into  a 
boy's  nature  that  a  man  has.  Thus,  while  there  is  little 
harm  in  mixed  classes  for  young  children,  after  the  age 
of  eleven  boys  and  girls  should  be  taught  separately. 
The  boy  should  feel  around  him  a  strong  manly  tone. 
He  should  be  disciplined  with  manly  strength  and  with 
man's  insight  into  boy  nature.  The  personality  of  his 
teacher  and  the  literature  he  reads  should  reveal  to  him 
the  manly  ideal,  and  his  school  occupations  should  bear 
on  manhood's  pursuits  and  encourage  those  physical, 
intellectual,  moral,  and  social  characteristics  that  are 
involved  in  the  term  manhood.  The  girl,  on  the  other 
hand,  should  have  reflected  in  her  teacher,  in  the  litera- 
ture she  reads,  and  in  the  tone  of  the  discipline,  the  charac- 
teristics peculiar  to  womanliness.  The  occupations  of  the 
girl's  school  should  train  her  for  the  special  vocation  of 
woman.  As  handicrafts,  practical  measurements,  and 
manly  games  give  the  essentially  manly  note  to  a  boys' 
school,  so  various  forms  of  housecraft  and  girls'  games 
should  give  the  note  of  womanliness  to  a  girls'  school. 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  47 

The  primary  school  organization  should,  then,  be  as 
follows : — 

Kindergarten 
(5  to  7  years) 

i 

Junior  School  (mixed) 
(7  to  1 1  years) 


Senior  Boys'  School         Senior  Girls'  School 
(n  to  14  years)  (11  to  14  years) 

The  break  in  the  school  period  at  eleven  years  of  age 
would  solve  in  a  satisfactory  manner  other  pressing 
problems.  Up  to  eleven  years  of  age  the  education  of 
all  pupils,  both  in  primary  and  in  secondary  schools, 
follows  the  same  general  lines.  The  pupils  are  learning 
the  elements  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  drawing, 
preparatory  to  undertaking  the  more  serious  work  in  the 
higher  classes.  The  important  work  in  a  primary  school 
is  done  in  Standards  V,  VI,  and  VII,  and  in  a  secondary 
school  in  the  last  four  years,  and  it  is  in  these  classes 
that  the  work  of  the  two  types  of  school  diverges  most 
widely.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  With  pupils  over 
eleven  each  type  of  school,  while  giving  as  much  general 
intellectual  culture  as  possible,  should  take  into  account 
the  future  careers  of  its  pupils.  Schools  cannot,  of  course, 
prepare  definitely  for  particular  trades  or  professions,  but 
they  can  take  notice  of  broad  differences,  such  as  those 
between  artisans  and  clerks.  Grouping  the  walks  of  life 
broadly,  we  find  that  primary  school  pupils  mainly  be- 
come unskilled  labourers,  artisans,  clerks,  and  small 
traders,  and  that  secondary  school  pupils  generally  enter 
the  higher  ranks  of  industry  and  commerce  and,  after  a 
university  course,  one  of  the  professions. 


48          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

This  diversity  of  practical  aim  can  roughly  be  met  by 
organizing  the  following  types  of  school : — 

1.  Primary   artisan   schools    for   pupils  entering   the 
unskilled  and  skilled  manual  occupations. 

2.  Primary  schools  with  a  commercial  bias  for  pupils 
who  will  become  clerks  or  small  traders. 

3.  Secondary  schools  having  three  sides : — 

(a)  A  commercial  side   for  pupils  desiring  to  enter 

commercial  life. 

(b)  A  technical  or  industrial  side  for  pupils  desiring 

to  enter  industry. 

(c)  A   side   preparatory  to   the   university   for  those 

desiring  to  enter  professional  life. 
The  organization  of  schools  and  of  the  curriculum  and 
scholars  of  each  school  should  permit  of  the  transference 
of  pupils  from  the  primary  to  the  secondary  with  the 
least  dislocation  of  the  work  in  each  school.  In  most 
towns  where  scholarship  arrangements  exist  for  a  trans- 
ference of  primary  pupils  to  secondary  schools  the  pupils 
complete  Standard  VI  in  the  primary  school  before  enter- 
ing the  secondary  school.  This  arrangement  causes  a 
great  dislocation  in  the  work  of  each  school.  In  many 
towns  it  has  caused  the  Standard  VII  to  be  practically 
non-existent,  Standard  VI  becoming  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  the  climax  of  the  school.  The  teaching  in 
Standard  VI  is  concentrated  not  on  the  needs  of  the 
majority  of  the  pupils,  but  on  the  scholarship  examination 
for  which  a  small  minority  enter.  The  majority  is  thus 
sacrificed  to  a  minority.  The  school  curriculum  and 
methods  are  organized  on  the  principle  not  of  a  pre- 
paration for  life,  but  on  the  principle  that  a  primary 
school  is  preparatory  to  a  secondary  school  and,  as  far 
as  municipal  secondary  schools  are  concerned,  should 
act  as  a  feeding  ground  for  it.  The  result  on  the  primary 
school  pupils  who  remain  in  the  school  is,  as  a  rule, 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  49 

fatal.  After  the  scholarship  examination  is  over  the 
school  has  no  purpose,  no  climax,  no  definite  aim.  The 
pupils  potter  about  at  all  kinds  of  odds  and  ends  until 
the  leaving  age  brings  a  welcome  relief.  The  whole 
system  brings  out  in  a  striking  way  the  utter  purpose- 
lessness  of  the  school  curriculum  and  its  dissociation 
from  the  future  needs  of  the  vast  majority  of  its  pupils. 

The  transference  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen  no 
less  interferes  with  the  work  of  the  secondary  school. 
Some  dozen  to  twenty  pupils  from  the  primary  schools 
are  thrown  into  one  of  the  lower  forms  of  the  school  and 
find  themselves  in  almost  every  subject  at  a  stage  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  regular  secondary  pupil.  As  a 
rule,  twelve  months1  time  is  spent — should  we  not  say 
wasted  ? — in  a  transition  class  before  the  influx  can  be 
absorbed  into  the  main  onward  trend  of  the  school 
work. 

The  whole  trouble  arises  from  a  misconception  as  to 
the  function  of  the  primary  school.  Instituted  before  the 
subject  of  primary  education  had  received  any  serious 
attention,  primary  schools  followed  the  secondary  school 
tradition  of  a  literary  culture  founded  on  reading  and 
writing,  instead  of  working  out  their  own  salvation  ac- 
cording to  the  needs  of  the  mass  of  the  population. 
This  misconception  led  to  education  being  understood  as 
consisting  of  two  grades,  the  primary  and  the  secondary, 
one  preparatory  to  the  other.  Such  a  view  of  education 
is  fatal  to  any  satisfactory  solution  of  the  primary  school 
problem.  The  two  kinds  of  schools  stand  for  two  dif- 
ferent types  of  life,  requiring  different  degrees  and  kinds 
of  intellectual  and  physical  attainments.  As  has  been 
observed,  the  primary  school  boy,  as  a  rule,  enters  some 
branch  of  manual  labour,  or  the  lower  ranks  of  trade  or 
commerce.  The  secondary  school  boy  seeks  to  enter 
the  higher  ranks  of  commerce,  trade,  or  industry,  or  one 

4 


So         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

of  the  professions.  The  two  types,  besides  signifying 
different  economic  ideals,  stand  for  different  degrees  of 
mental  culture  and  kinds  of  manners  and  behaviour.  A 
secondary  school,  then,  is  not  a  stage  beyond  the  primary, 
nor  a  second  story  to  it ;  it  is  a  different  kind  from  it. 
Especially  is  the  difference  marked  in  a  comparison  of  the 
work  that  the  upper  classes  of  the  one  and  the  upper 
forms  of  the  other  should  be  engaged  in.  Although,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  the  work  of  the  lower  forms  and 
classes  in  both  will  be  on  much  the  same  lines. 

The  transference  of  pupils  from  the  primary  to  the 
secondary  school  should  take  place  before  the  divergence 
is  great.  Every  year  of  delay  cripples  the  primary  boy's 
chance  of  benefiting  fully  by  the  life  and  instruction  ol 
the  secondary  school,  and  at  the  same  time  increases  the 
disorganization  of  the  secondary  school  arrangements. 
The  most  convenient  moment  for  the  transference  would 
be  when  the  primary  boy  finished  the  junior  school  course 
at  eleven  years.  Those  transferred  would  be  the  intel- 
lectual pick  of  the  junior  school,  and  should,  therefore, 
have  received  a  thorough  grounding  in  the  elements  of 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  drawing.  They  would 
with  little  trouble  take  up  the  work  of  the  second  or  third 
form  of  the  secondary  school. 

The  age  of  eleven,  then,  would  be  a  crucial  point  in 
the  career  of  the  primary  school  boy.  At  this  age  his 
parents  would  have  the  chance  of  sending  him  to : — 

1.  A  secondary  school,  to  enter  ultimately  the  com- 
mercial, industrial,  or  professional  side. 

2.  A  primary  commercial  school. 

3.  A  primary  artisan  school. 

The  boy,  then,  from  eleven  years  onward  would  pursue 
a  course  of  a  definite  character,  leading  in  a  definite  way 
to  one  or  other  of  the  main  openings  to  earning  a  liveli- 
hood. 


THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL  51 

It  might  naturally  be  asked  why  the  differentiation 
according  to  occupations  should  be  carried  out  by  means 
of  "  sides  "  in  the  case  of  the  secondary  school  and  by 
separate  schools  in  the  case  of  the  primary.  The  number 
of  primary  and  of  'secondary  schools  needed  in  a  town 
gives  the  clue  to  the  answer.  Two  and  sometimes  three 
primary  schools  are  required  for  one  district,  whereas 
one  secondary  school  is  often  enough  to  serve  the  needs 
of  the  whole  town.  Hence,  economy  decides  that  the 
educational  bias  according  to  future  career  in  the  second- 
ary school  must  often  be  made  within  the  one  school 
organization  ;  whereas,  for  efficiency,  each  primary  school 
can  specialize  according  to  the  needs  of  the  district. 
If  more  than  one  secondary  school  for  boys  exist  in 
a  town  it  would  be  a  wise  economy  for  each  to  specialize 
in  its  own  line.  Thus,  there  might  be  in  a  town  an  in- 
dustrial secondary,  a  commercial  secondary,  and  a 
secondary  school  giving  a  general  culture,  each  sending 
some  of  its  pupils  on  to  the  university  to  take  advantage 
of  the  highest  training  in  arts,  science,  or  technology  be- 
fore entering  the  professions,  industry,  or  commerce. 

If  a  parent  living  in  an  artisan  district  wished  his 
boy  to  receive  a  trade  or  commercial  education,  he  would 
have  to  select  a  school  in  a  part  of  the  town  where  the 
needs  demanded  such  a  school.  It  is  no  hardship  to 
ask  a  boy  of  eleven  to  walk  one  or  even  two  miles  to 
school.  Children  in  the  country  often  walk  much  farther 
to  school,  and  the  pupils  of  a  secondary  school  in  a 
large  town  do  not,  as  a  rule,  live  within  a  radius  of  one 
mile,  or  even  two,  of  the  school.  It  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  within  a  radius  of  a  mile  from  any  point  of 
a  town  there  will  be  found  a  need  for  both  an  artisan 
and  a  commercial  primary  school. 


4* 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    DISCIPLINE    AND    INSTRUCTION  -OF    THE    PRIMARY 
ARTISAN  SCHOOL. 

OUR  standpoint,  throughout,  with  respect  to  the  artisan 
school  has  been  that  in  its  instruction  and  training  it 
should  face  the  realities  of  artisan  life.  In  that  life  the 
practical  stands  out  as  the  most  economically  necessary 
and,  therefore,  as  an  essential  to  free  manhood  and  as 
that  aspect  of  the  future  to  which  the  ambition  of  the 
boy  in  early  adolescence  is  turned.  It  would,  however, 
be  a  poor  life  and  education  that  banged  the  door  on 
other  activities  which,  though  not  so  economically  neces- 
sary, yet  enter  into  a  generous  conception  of  a  free  and 
intelligent  manhood.  Citizenship  and  the  world  of 
thought  and  art  are  the  heritage  of  all.  They  should  be 
as  much  realities  in  the  artisan's  life  as  is  his  practical 
work.  A  manhood  without  them  would  be  a  very 
limited,  confined,  and  dependent  thing.  There  can  be  a 
manhood  without  culture  and  without  the  sense  of 
citizenship,  but  it  is  a  rude,  barbaric,  material  manhood  at 
the  mercy  of  the  lower  passions  and  material  necessities. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  can  be  culture  without  manhood, 
but  it  is  a  poor,  contemptible  thing.  The  finest  product 
of  education  and  of  civilization  is  the  manhood  which 
fully,  freely  and  intelligently  spends  itself  not  only  in 
the  practical  work  of  the  world,  but  also  in  the  claims  of 
citizenship,  and  in  conquering  the  world  of  thought  and 
art.  In  thus  giving  full  vent  to  his  practical,  social,  and 

52 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          53 

intellectual  nature  a  man  finds  individual,  social,  and  in- 
tellectual freedom.  Shut  off  from  the  wider  life  by 
lack  of  desire  or  want  of  opportunity,  he  is  a  slave  to  his 
own  needs  and  impulses.  Hence  education,  though  per- 
forming a  necessary  duty  in  leading  the  youth  towards  an 
intelligent  and  skilled  practical  life,  fulfils  its  highest 
function  only  when  it  inspires  the  boy  to  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  and  beauty  for  the  pleasure  they  bring  and 
expands  his  social  nature  to  take  an  active,  intelligent,  and 
appreciative  part  in  national  activities. 

The  primary  school,  however,  can  do  little  more  than 
set  the  boy  on  the  first  rung  of  the  upward  ladder.  To 
give  all  the  instruction  necessary  for  adult  life  before 
the  age  of  fourteen  is  not  desirable,  nor  even  possible. 
The  boy's  education  at  fourteen  is  little  more  than 
begun,  for  there  have  been  only  three  short  years  of 
serious  work.  Before  the  age  of  eleven  instruction 
has  been  largely  play,  and  but  unconsciously — as  far  as 
the  boy  is  concerned — educative.  It  is  only  when  per- 
sonal desire  and  ambition  are  present  to  aid  the  external 
instruments  of  instruction  that  any  serious  direction  can 
be  given  to  the  boy's  learning.  Only  with  the  awaken- 
ing of  a  sense  of  responsibility  and  independence  can 
education  become  an  inner  conscious  force.  It  may  well 
be  asked,  then,  "  What  can  instruction  do  in  three  short 
years  ?  "  Moreover,  the  boy  at  fourteen  has  not  attained 
the  full  capacity  of  his  development.  Full  ten  years  of 
active  growth  are  ahead  of  him  before  his  physical, 
intellectual,  social,  and  moral  natures  will  have  all  their 
tendencies  awakened,  and  it  is  the  direction  given  to 
these  tendencies  during  the  years  immediately  preceding 
manhood,  rather  than  the  course  given  to  the  immature 
tendencies  of  early  youth,  that  will  determine  the  trend 
of  life  during  manhood.  Hence,  all  that  primary  in- 
struction can  do,  up  to  the  age  of  fourteen,  is  to  develop 


54          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  boy's  youthful  powers  of  mind  and  body  to  the 
utmost  of  their  fourteen-year-old  capacity  in  those  direc- 
tions that  will  lead  him  to  enter  into  the  duties  and 
activities  of  youth  with  zest  and  ability.  We  should, 
then,  view  with  little  favour  proposals  to  give  instruction 
in  subjects  that  are  only  appropriate  for  a  riper  intelli- 
gence. The  theories  of  hygiene  and  of  morals  are 
examples  of  such  subjects.  The  work  of  the  primary 
school  with  respect  to  morals  and  hygiene  is  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  healthy  living  in  habits  and  feelings  rather 
than  in  an  intellectual  insight  into  theory. 

The  limitations  of  primary  school  education  are  so 
clearly  recognized  by  some  that  they  urge  the  necessity 
of  extending  primary  education  beyond  the  age  of  four- 
teen to  fifteen,  and  sixteen  has  even  been  suggested. 
This  appeal  implies  that  the  school  has  to  give  the  boy 
his  main  preparation  for  life's  duties,  which  is  to  ex- 
aggerate both  the  function  and  the  possibilities  of  the 
school.  Schooling  is  only  one  form  of  education,  and 
often  not  the  wisest  and  more  fruitful  form,  as  in  those 
cases  where  the  tone  and  pursuits  of  the  schools  are  out 
of  touch  with  life's  realities.  Many  people  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  imagine  an  education  apart  from  the  school.  To 
those  we  would  urge  that  the  home,  the  workshops  of 
employers,  social  and  recreative  pursuits  are  as  important 
instruments  in  determining  the  boy's  development  as  is 
the  school,  and  are  often  more  effective.  The  wider  range 
and  freer  pursuit  of  those  activities  that  are  possible  to 
youths  after  schooldays  are  over,  are  valuable  educational 
instruments  for  training  responsibility. 

Especially  would  we  urge  that  the  life  and  pursuits  of 
the  workshop  are  educative.  Employers  demand  of 
their  workpeople,  even  of  their  boy  workers,  effort  and 
success,  and  their  measures  of  discipline  are  severer  than 
those  of  the  home  and  school.  This  places  on  the  boy 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          55 

a  responsibility  for  his  work  that  is  a  stage  beyond  what 
is  usual  in  the  school  or  home.  In  a  works,  too,  the  boy 
forms  part  of  an  organization  of  industry  that  demands 
of  him  co-operation  with  others  in  the  general  lines  of 
the  industry,  and  independent  initiative  in  the  narrower 
details.  It  is  because  of  this  appeal  to  responsibility,  to 
independent  initiative,  and  to  loyal  co-operation,  that  we 
claim  for  practical  employment  a  considerable  educative 
value  apart  from  its  development  of  physical  skill  and 
practical  judgment  on  the  lines  of  the  boy's  future  occu- 
pation. 

The  evils  resulting  from  boys7  entering  work  at  the 
early  age  of  fourteen  are  not  those  of  working  for  wages 
and  the  imposition  of  responsibility.  These  are  all  to 
the  good.  The  evil  arises  from  the  too  great  amount  of 
time  and  energy  the  work  absorbs,  and  from  the  unhy- 
gienic conditions  under  which  it  is  frequently  carried  on. 
Frequently  the  day's  labour  leaves  the  boy  mentally  and 
physically  incapable  of  any  pursuit  beyond  relaxation. 
Juvenile  employment,  then,  though  often  resulting  in  harm, 
may  not,  and  need  not,  be  harmful.  The  first  reform 
needed  in  organizing  the  educational  instruments  for  the 
youth  after  his  primary  schooldays  are  over  is  not  so 
much  to  raise  the  primary  school  leaving  age  as  to 
institute  a  legislative  control  over  the  kind,  conditions,  and 
amount  of  boy  labour  so  that  it  may  be  made  educative, 
and  so  that  time  may  be  given  for  the  boy  to  engage  in 
recreative  and  social  activities  and  undertake  instruction  of 
a  higher  practical  character  and  a  wider  intellectual  nature. 

The  education  of  the  primary  artisan  school  is,  then, 
but  a  part  of,  or  a  stage  in,  a  wider  education,  and  its 
work  consists  in  expanding  and  disciplining  the  powers 
of  early  adolescence  to  a  point  at  which  the  workshops, 
private  and  social  life,  and  educative  institutions  for 
youths  can  carry  forward-  their  development  in  the 


56          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

direction  of  practical  ability,  citizenship,  and  culture.  The 
development  of  the  self-feelings  during  early  adolescence, 
we  have  seen,  makes  it  not  only  permissible,  but  neces- 
sary, to  place  on  the  boy  himself  some  small  measure  of 
responsibility  for  his  own  learning,  and  of  independence  in 
the  work  of  carrying  it  on.  These  characteristics  should 
become  more  and  more  evident  in  the  educative  instruc- 
tion after  schooldays  are  over.  The  youth  should  feel 
his  own  responsibility  for  himself  and  his  future,  and 
much  of  the  learning  should  be  independent  self-learning. 
Responsibility,  necessarily,  cannot  be  wholly  the  boy's. 
His  parents,  his  employers,  and  the  education  authorities 
must  share  it  with  him  since,  after  all,  he  is  but  a  boy 
in  whom  ambition  and  purpose  are  not  steady,  whose 
impulses  are  not  under  firm  control,  and  whose  intelli- 
gence and  experiences  are  not  ripe  enough  to  deal  alone 
with  the  opportunities  and  temptations  too  great  a  free- 
dom often  offers.  His  parents  have  not  only  a  natural 
right,  but  also  a  natural  responsibility.  His  employers, 
since  they  engage  his  labour,  should  take  some  responsi- 
bility for  making  that  labour  efficient.  They  have 
responsibilities  to  their  workboys  as  well  as  rights  over 
them,  and  their  educative  responsibility  is  to  provide 
efficiently  for  the  boys'  practical  education.  The  educa- 
tion authorities  represent  society  at  large,  which  has  a 
responsibility  for  its  younger  members.  Parents,  em- 
ployers and  education  authorities,  however,  must  recog- 
nize that  they  cannot  use  compulsion  with  boys  of  this 
age  with  any  advantage.  The  boy's  self-consciousness 
and  his  desire  for  independence  have  developed  suf- 
ficiently for  him  to  assert  himself  successfully  against 
compulsion  by  sullenness,  obstinacy,  or  passion.  Hence 
these  forces  must  be  won  for,  not  forced  into,  learning. 
They  cannot  be  ignored  or  suppressed  if  instruction  is  to 
be  of  any  avail. 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          57 

It  is  doubtful,  then,  if  compulsory  attendance  at  con- 
tinuation schools  would  lead  to  a  real  advance  in  the 
education  of  artisans,  unless  the  appreciation  of  educa- 
tion and  of  culture  among  the  working  classes  was  much 
more  wide-spread  and  intense  than  it  is  at  present. 
Before  compulsion  is  attempted  every  legitimate  induce- 
ment in  the  form  of  physical  and  social  recreation  should 
be  generously  used  to  attract  youths  within  the  folds  of 
the  continuation  schools,  and  every  form  of  healthy  in- 
spiration, rivalry,  and  competition,  and  of  appeals  to 
ambition  should  be  used  on  him  when  there  to  awaken 
desire  for  advancement  and  to  concentrate  ambition 
on  a  definite  course  of  study.  Appreciation  of  education, 
goodwill  towards  higher  skill  and  culture,  and  a  sense  of 
responsibility  in  the  boy  for  his  own  future  are  motive 
powers  that  will  drive  the  wheels  of  education  more 
quickly  and  smoothly  than  will  compulsion.  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  future  outlook  educational  administration 
is  becoming  more  and  more  bureaucratic,  and  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  methods  of  compulsion  will  be  preferred  to 
those  of  inducement.  Bureaucracy  has  no  soul ;  it  is  only 
a  machine.  Its  strength  lies  in  its  power  to  organize 
external  forces;  its  weakness  in  its  neglect  of  those 
personal  influences  that  cannot  be  forced  into  a  cast-iron 
system,  but  are,  on  that  account  perhaps,  the  most 
effective  in  the  development  of  youth. 

The  question  of  self-learning  opens  up  the  whole 
problem  of  the  methods  of  school  discipline  and  instruc- 
tion. The  methods  of  education  are  often  described 
as  "leading the  pupil  "  to  this,  that,  and  the  other.  Often, 
it  is  true,  the  leading  becomes  driving,  but  the  boy  is 
hardly  ever  free  from  leading  or  driving  reins.  He 
seldom  stands  on  his  own  feet  and  walks  for  himself. 
Surely,  in  whatever  directions  instruction  develops  the 
boy,  it  should  train  in  him  some  power  to  advance  in 


58          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

those  directions  by  his  own  efforts  and  will.  As  an 
essential  factor  in  education  after  schooldays  are  over, 
the  power  of  self-learning  should  be  seriously  cultivated 
during  schooldays.  Instruction  should  be  carried  on  in 
such  a  way  as  to  cultivate  (i)  the  desire  and  ambition  for 
improvement  and  (2)  some  power  of  independent  effort. 

It  is  feared  that  primary  school  instruction  frequently 
fails  to  attain  either  of  these  results.  Its  teaching, 
especially  in  the  higher  classes,  is  content  to  fill  the 
pupils*  minds  with  information  on  a  multitude  of  useful 
and  useless  topics  and  to  drive  these  home  by  thorough 
memorizing.  Periodically  the  boy's  mind  is  examined 
to  see  if  its  contents  have  been  lost  or  mislaid,  and  too 
often  it  is  found  that  his  mind  is  rather  "  like  the  magazine 
of  a  pawnbroker's  shop,  stored  with  goods  of  every  descrip- 
tion, but  so  cumbrously  piled  together  and  in  such  disor- 
ganization that  the  owner  can  never  lay  his  hands  on  any 
one  article  at  the  moment  he  has  occasion  to  use  it." 
Knowledge,  it  is  thought,  is  a  valuable  possession  which 
will  sometime  in  the  future  be  able  to  realize  itself  in  in- 
telligent thought  and  effective  action.  So  give  the  boy 
useful  knowledge  about  business  and  he  will  in  the  future 
have  power  over  business.  Give  him  knowledge  about 
morals  and  he  will  have  the  power  to  be  good.  Give 
him  knowledge  about  health  and  he  will  have  power  to 
live  a  healthy  life.  Give  a  girl  knowledge  about  domestic 
matters  and  she  will  have  power  to  manage  a  home.  It 
needs  little  examination  to  expose  the  futility  of  such 
knowledge  about  things.  To  know  about  without  the 
power  to  use,  is  not  only  possible  but  common.  To 
know  about  without  the  will  to  use,  is  one  of  the  saddest 
features  of  modern  education.  Much  of  the  failure  in 
life  is  not  from  want  of  information,  but  from  lack  of 
power  or  will. 

Stores  of  information  about  things  do  not  constitute 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          59 

knowledge  in  any  real  sense  of  the  term.  They  have  in 
them  no  vital  principle  of  power  or  growth.  The  real 
living  stream  of  the  boy's  mental  life  flows  on  more  or 
less  uninfluenced  by  the  flood  of  information  that  instruc- 
tion pours  in,  and  which,  forming  stagnant  pools,  evapor- 
ates and  fades  away  when  the  artificial  source  comes  to  an 
end,  leaving  the  main  stream  of  mental  life  little  the  richer 
or  stronger.  The  main  stream  of  mental  life  is  fed  from 
a  more  vital  source.  It  issues  from  the  needs,  impulses, 
interests,  desires,  purposes,  and  ambitions  of  the  boy 
which  impel  him  continuously  to  a  never-ending  series 
of  acts  to  know  his  environment  and  to  master  it. 

By  this  activity  he  is  constantly  receiving  impressions 
from  his  environment  and  reacting  to  them  in  thought  and 
action  of  a  more  or  less  effective  kind.  Thus  he  gains 
an  ever-widening  and  increasingly  effective  experience 
of  how  to  deal  with  his  environment  in  order  to  satisfy 
his  wants  and  desires.  Such  experience  is  knowledge  in 
the  only  true  sense  of  the  term.  It  constitutes  the  boy's 
power  to  deal  with  the  things  around  him,  to  think  about 
them,  and  to  act  on  them  with  reference  to  some  purpose. 
Such  power  alone  is  knowledge. 

Knowledge,  then,  is  a  power,  not  a  possession.  It  is 
like  the  merchant's  capital  rather  than  the  miser's  store 
of  gold :  the  one  invested  in  commerce  and  industry  is 
a  source  of  increase  and  a  centre  of  activity  ;  the  other, 
hoarded  in  secret  places,  is  powerless  for  good.  It  is 
dynamic,  not  static.  It  is  the  power  to  control  one's  life 
and  actions  by  thought.  Its  increase  is  not  measured  by 
accumulations  of  facts  and  rules  which  may  add  nothing 
to  power  and  often  only  paralyse  it.  Its  development  is 
marked  by  the  wider  range  of  experience  over  which  the 
mind  has  control,  by  the  power  to  analyse  more  complex 
situations,  and  by  the  greater  distinctness  and  clearness 
with  which  experience  is  grasped.  Its  value  in  life  is 


60         PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

seen  in  the  greater  economy  and  efficiency  and  in  the 
wider  range  of  action.  It  has  in  it  the  seeds  of  its  own 
growth,  for  its  vitality  is  derived  from  those  impulsive 
forces  of  desire  and  ambition,  and  of  curiosity  and  action 
that  impel  the  mind  to  a  wider  and  wider  range  of  inquiry 
and  to  an  increasing  efficiency  in  conduct.  Such  a  power 
school  instruction  must  give  if  it  is  to  be  fruitful  in  in- 
fluencing the  boy's  future  life. 

The  environment  and  activities  of  the  school  add  to 
the  boy's  experience  a  number  of  subsidiary  streams 
which,  if  they  are  to  be  effective  as  power,  should  broaden 
and  strengthen  the  main  stream  of  mental  life.  They 
must  not  flow  separately  from  it,  feeding  on  different 
kinds  of  material,  deriving  their  power  from  different  sets 
of  impulses,  expressing  themselves  in  different  forms  of 
activity,  and  directing  themselves  to  different  ends.  If 
school  instruction  thus  separates  itself  from  the  out-of- 
school  realities  of  the  boy,  a  dual  mental  life  will  be  set 
up ;  one  side  confined  to  school  experiences  and  purposes 
more  or  less  distasteful,  the  other,  distinct  from  it,  con- 
cerned with  those  problems  which  the  boy  feels  to  be 
real  and  interesting.  The  gulf  between  the  two  lives, 
the  powerlessness  of  the  school  instruction  over  his  out- 
of-school  affairs,  and  its  unreality  will  become  more  mani- 
fest to  the  boy  when,  by  the  growth  of  his  sense,  of 
independence,  his  thoughts  are  turned  to  work.  From 
the  moment  the  boy  feels  that  school  activities  are  worth- 
less and  unreal  to  him,  whether  they  be  so  in  reality  or 
not,  school  instruction  will  fail  to  have  any  power  except 
to  disgust.  It  finds  no  source  of  vitality  in  the  boy's 
nature. 

It  may  be  argued  that,  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
school,  its  activities  must  be  largely  of  an  artificial  char- 
acter, as  in  the  cases  of  formal  physical  drill  and  many  of 
the  arithmetical  problems  usual  in  sqhool-work.  This  is  no 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          61 

doubt  true  if  by  school  is  meant  school  buildings.  Our 
whole  contention  throughout,  however,  has  been  that  the 
classroom  cannot  offer  opportunities  for  the  practical  and 
physical  activities  that  are  necessary  to  the  development 
of  the  boy's  abilities  on  practical  and  healthy  lines  and 
that  make  up  a  large  part  of  out-of-school  existence. 
The  classroom  activities  must  be  to  some  extent  formal 
and  scholastic,  and  can  neither  be  assimilated  fully  to 
out-of-school  experience,  nor  train  for  an  out-of-school 
manhood.  This,  however,  is  no  argument  for  confining 
the  school-work  to  such  artificial  devices.  Rather  is  it  an 
argument  for  broadening  the  whole  conception  of  what 
constitutes  school  instruction  so  as  to  embrace  something 
very  much  wider  than  can  be  carried  on  within  the  four 
walls  of  a  classroom.  It  is  time  teachers  rid  their  minds 
of  the  narrow  conception  that  the  school  means  a  building. 
It  is  a  company  of  scholars  under  discipline,  and  wher- 
ever the  company  may  be,  in  the  classroom  or  workshop, 
in  the  gymnasium  or  playground,  in  the  fields  of  the 
country  or  the  streets  of  a  town,  round  an  old  abbey  or 
castle,  if  they  are  under  discipline  there  is  the  school. 
Only  by  widening  the  conception  of  school  so  as  to 
include  activities  that  can  be  performed  out  of  the  class- 
room and  out  of  the  school  buildings  can  the  basis  of 
school  instruction  be  made  sufficiently  wide  to  find 
numerous  points  of  contact  with  the  main  stream  of  the 
boys'  interests  and  experience. 

The  root  conception  of  school  is  disciplined  activity ; 
and  by  discipline  we  do  not  mean  necessarily  the  direct 
discipline  of  the  teacher's  voice  and  eye.  A  school  can 
only  train  self-discipline  and  self-learning  if  it  gives 
sufficient  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  disciplined 
freedom.  It  is  not  enough  for  the  teacher  to  say  the  boy 
has  freedom  out  of  school,  in  his  own  life.  This  is  a  freedom 
without  directive  inspiration  and  organization.  The  school 


62          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

should  supply  both  inspiration  and  organization  to  direct 
the  boys'  interests  out  of  school,  by  the  formation  of  read- 
ing circles,  ramblers'  clubs,  sports  clubs,  scout  patrols,  and 
such  like  societies.  These  institutions  can  be  kept  on  a 
sound  and  healthy  basis  and  in  a  flourishing  condition 
only  if  they  have  behind  them  the  interest  and  organizing 
power  of  the  teachers  of  a  school.  It  is  as  much  by  the 
disciplined  activity  away  from  the  school  classroom  and 
under  the  influence  of  school  societies  as  by  the  formal 
and  more  artificial  tasks  performed  under  the  teacher's 
eye  that  real  power  to  deal  with  things  will  be  cultivated. 

The  school,  then,  aims  at  disciplined  activity,  but  the 
discipline  should  be  quite  other  than  that  of  a  monoton- 
ous and  unintelligent  drudgery  and  of  a  cold,  mechanical, 
external  government.  Discipline  is  not  forcing  a  boy  to 
do  what  he  doesn't  want  to  do,  or  to  learn  what  he  thinks 
useless  and  finds  uninteresting,  in  the  hopes  that  in  the 
long  run  force  and  time  will  bring  him  to  the  instructor's 
way  of  looking  at  things.  Indeed,  it  is  the  very  opposite 
of  forcing ;  it  is  inducing  the  boy  to  enter  willingly, 
cheerfully,  and  heartily  into  the  doing  of  those  things  and 
the  learning  of  those  things  that  are  valuable  and  useful. 

Nor  is  there  any  lack  of  inner  forces  in  the  boy's  nature 
to  which  to  appeal.  The  normal  healthy  boy  is  brimful 
of  irrepressible  forces  that  are  at  every  moment  seeking 
something  or  somebody  to  be  the  object  of  their  activity, 
and  which  forces  are  compelling  him  continually  to  every 
form  of  mental  and  physical  effort.  He  is  curious 
about  things  and  inquisitive  as  to  the  meaning  of  people's 
actions.  He  wants  to  know  the  what,  the  how,  and  the 
why  of  every  object  and  event  that  is  strange  and  new. 
He  longs  to  get  his  hands  on  things,  to  pick  them  up 
and  do  something  with  them,  even  to  pull  them  to  pieces 
and  break  them.  He  imitates  the  actions  of  others  and 
acts  on  their  suggestions  often  just  to  see  what  it  is  like  ; 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          63 

at  other  times  he  experiments  with  things  "  on  his  own  " 
with  a  ready  and  fanciful  imagination.  In  his  relations 
with  others  he  is  moved  by  the  contrary  impulses  of  sym- 
pathy and  egoism.  He  does  not  like  to  stand  alone  in 
thought,  feeling,  or  action.  He  likes  to  feel  behind  him 
the  support  of  the  crowd,  to  receive  their  approbation 
and  praise.  On  the  other  hand,  his  egoism  leads  him  to 
fight  for  his  own  hand  in  competition  and  to  "  go  one 
better "  in  emulation.  Weakness  arouses  his  sense  of 
mastery  and  he  treats  it  with  contempt  rather  than  with 
pity.  Strength  and  authority  receive  his  respect  and, 
when  exercised  in  a  friendly  spirit,  his  admiration  and 
willing  obedience.  To  what  he  feels  to  be  manly  he 
gives  an  open-hearted  and  reverential  hero-worship. 

The  boy  is  thus  no  passive  organism,  no  tabula  rasa 
waiting  to  receive  the  imprint  of  external  forces.  He  is 
a  compound  of  propulsive  and  often  explosive  forces  that 
impel  him  to  go  out  to  the  world  around  him  to  discover 
it  and  know  it  through  his  senses  and  his  intelligence, 
to  master  it  with  his  physical  activity  and  his  will,  to 
co-operate  with  those  people  that  attract  him,  and  to 
assert  his  own  strength  in  competition  and  strife.  These 
forces  are  the  raw  material  that  education  has  to  cherish, 
strengthen  and  refine,  to  turn  into  powers  strong  in 
their  innate  impulsiveness,  yet  fine,  sensitive,  and  dis- 
criminating in  their  action. 

The  first  duty  of  education  in  cherishing  the  impulsive 
energy  of  childhood  and  youth  is  to  prevent  the  waste  ot 
innate  power.  Nature  with  bountiful  hands  has  given  to 
each  one  of  us  much  possibility  of  power  of  thought,  of 
appreciation,  and  of  action.  Human  hands,  however, 
too  often  withhold  the  opportunity  necessary  for  right 
development,  and  the  innate  energy  of  boyhood  is  guided 
into  evil  channels  or,  dissipating  itself  in  desultory  activity, 
it  runs  to  seed  and  is  wasted.  For  example,  the  boy  is 


64          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

brimming  over  with  redundant  physical  energy  and  ready 
to  find  a  vent  for  it  in  games,  in  play,  in  mischief,  in 
struggling  and  fighting  with  his  companions,  in  making 
things,  and  in  a  thousand  and  one  ways.  These  physical 
impulses — cherished,  strengthened,  and  refined  by  games 
that  develop  strength  and  skill,  and  the  spirit  of  honour 
and  loyalty,  and  by  contests  that  call  out  his  initiative, 
ingenuity,  self-reliance,  and  fighting  spirit — would  make 
the  physical  and  moral  backbone  of  England's  manhood  : 
but,  stifled  in  the  slums,  courts,  and  alleys  of  our  manu- 
facturing towns,  and  neglected  by  the  bookish  desk  regime 
of  the  modern  school,  this  priceless  potentiality  of  national 
strength  is  wasted,  and  dissipating  itself  in  street  mis- 
chief, it  degenerates  to  produce  the  hooligan  and  street 
loafer,  or,  altogether  suppressed,  the  narrow-chested,  un- 
dersized, and  dispirited  worker  of  the  factory. 

Again,  notice  the  hero-worship  which  animates  the  boy 
of  twelve  to  sixteen  years,  and  which  is  running  to  waste 
in  a  dozen  perverted  channels.  The  boy  admires  strength, 
courage,  pluck,  grit,  and  skill.  By  healthy  literature  and 
historical  stories,  and  by  manly  games  and  contests 
played  and  fought  in  an  atmosphere  of  keen  strife  and 
chivalrous  fair  play,  such  a  spring  of  manly  tendencies 
would  pour  forth  a  fountain  of  hardy  virtues  that  would 
do  much  to  strengthen  and  sweeten  the  moral  spirit  of 
the  age.  Left  to  run  their  own  course  amid  a  crowd  of 
evil  influences  this  hero-worship  and  admiration  of 
strength  take  many  warped,  ill-shapen  forms.  The  bully 
and  braggadocio,  the  pirate  captain  and  robber  chief, 
even  at  times  the  expert  pickpocket  and  cracksman  be- 
come too  often  the  heroes  of  the  young  boy.  Such 
perverted  admiration  is  all  the  sadder  when  one  reflects 
that  the  intensity  of  admiration  for  evil  might,  under 
healthier  circumstances,  have  been  an  equally  intense 
admiration  for  good. 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          65 

The  organization  and  instruction  of  the  school  should 
aim  at  strengthening  and  refining  every  important  group 
of  impulses  of  the  boy's  nature.  Every  potentiality  of 
body  and  mind,  of  thought,  feeling,  and  action,  should  be 
realized  in  actual  power  valuable  for  practical,  social, 
and  individual  life,  by  means  of  healthy,  active,  manly 
pursuits.  To  learn  by  heart,  even  to  have  knowledge 
and  understanding,  is  but  one  part  of  the  power  needed 
to  live.  To  be  strong  in  physical  energy,  skilful  of  body, 
honest  in  work,  hardy  in  spirit,  courageous  in  endeavour, 
clean  in  thought,  loyal  in  co-operation,  are  much  more 
vital  to  the  individual  welfare  and  the  welfare  of  the 
nation.  The  nation  cannot  afford  to  leave  to  chance,  to 
the  perverted  influence  of  the  streets  and  cheap  literature, 
and  to  the  somewhat  narrow  traditions  of  the  working- 
class  homes  the  development  of  the  innate  impulses  that 
have  in  them  immense  possibilities  of  national  strength. 
To  do  so  is  to  waste  the  main  source  of  the  nation's 
strength  of  body,  industrial  skill,  and  hardy  manhood. 

The  innate  impulses  are  many,  and  can  be  arranged  in 
opposed  groups.  The  impulses  of  attraction  stand  against 
those  of  repulsion,  imitation  against  originality,  self- 
assertion  against  self-effacement,  competition  against  co- 
operation, egoism  against  altruism.  The  true  line  of 
development  is  towards  a  harmonious  combination  of 
opposed  impulses,  so  that  each  acts  rather  as  the  com- 
plement than  as  the  antagonist  of  the  other.  Such 
complementary  action  is  exhibited  when  the  fear  of  evil 
aids  the  love  of  good,  when  the  formation  of  habit  acts 
as  the  stable  basis  for  progress  by  initiative,  and  when, 
as  in  a  game  of  football,  competition  helps  co-operation 
in  a  rivalry  which  aims  at  doing  the  most  and  best  for 
the1  common  welfare.  Left  to  themselves,  however,  the 
complementary  impulses  fail  to  combine  in  harmonious 
unity,  There  is  often  conflict,  and  the  Veaker  are  sup- 

5 


66          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

pressed,  leaving  the  stronger  to  develop  and  form  a  one- 
sided, ill-balanced  character. 

Moreover,  in  their  action  the  impulses  are  flighty  and 
unsteady,  and  even  in  boyhood  are  often  blindly  ex- 
pressive of  feeling  and  uncontrolled  by  reason.  Hence, 
when  left  to  his  own  guidance,  the  boy  often  dissipates 
his  energy  impulsively  over  a  number  of  more  or  less 
trivial  pursuits  that  successively  attract  his  interest,  and 
he  carries  through  nothing  with  persistent  thoroughness 
and  intelligent  thought.  He  thus  fails  to  gain  by  his 
activity  increased  power  in  thought,  or  in  skill,  or  in 
industry. 

Instruction,  then,  while  gaining  its  hold  on  the  boy's 
energies  by  an  appeal  to  his  innate  curiosity,  love  of 
action  and  individual  and  social  tendencies,  should  guide 
these  forces  in  directions  that  will  lead  to  the  develop- 
ment of  valuable  power,  and  should  stimulate  the  boy  to 
a  thorough,  persistent,  and  efficient  performance  of  every 
pursuit  undertaken.  School  learning  should  be  neither 
play  nor  amusement.  Play  and  amusement  have  their 
place  in  school  as  they  have  their  place  in  life ;  but  in  the 
main  school  instruction  should  be  a  discipline.  It  should 
be  regulative  of  innate  impulses  and  formative  of  purpose 
and  power.  It  should  seek  to  turn  the  flighty,  unsteady, 
conflicting,  and  ineffective  impulses  of  childhood  and 
youth  into  the  steady,  persistent,  and  patient  forces  of 
intelligent  desire  and  purpose.  Further,  it  should  broaden 
and  deepen  these  maturer  springs  of  conduct  into  ideals 
for  practical,  national  and  individual  life,  and  cultivate  the 
power  of  mind  and  body  necessary  for  their  effective 
attainment. 

The  discipline  of  compulsion,  however,  cannot  attain 
this  end,  for  compulsion  represses  all  activity  save  resent- 
ment, loathing,  and  the  inner  rebellion  that  springs  from 
fear.  Compulsion  can  make  the  outer  being  conform  in 
a  reluctant  performance,  but  cannot  breathe  into  the  soul 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          67 

any  life-giving  spirit  by  which  alone  the  inner  fires  of 
desire  and  purpose  are  set  burning  with  a  steady  flame. 
Methods  of  repression  are  simply  antagonistic  to  develop- 
ment, for  development  means  activity,  life,  energy  in  ever 
stronger,  fuller,  and  higher  forms.  Discipline,  then, 
should  arouse,  stimulate,  excite,  enthuse,  and  inspire. 

Discipline  in  its  appeals  to  the  many  inner  springs  of 
conduct  should  act  on  the  varied,  conflicting,  and  unsteady 
impulses  of  the  boy  in  such  a  way  that,  like  the  magic 
wand  that  brings  order  out  of  chaos,  it  causes  them  to 
fall  into  line,  to  lend  support  to  each  other,  and,  by  con- 
centrating all  their  forces  in  the  same  direction,  to  bring 
about  a  steady,  continuous,  and  persistent  activity  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  one  purpose.  For  example,  the 
boy  is  naturally  curious,  but  many  things  excite  his 
curiosity,  and  his  impulse  to  attend  to  one  is  soon  dis- 
turbed by  the  attraction  of  a  second,  and  dissipation  of 
intellectual  force  results.  But  he  also  likes  praise  from 
those  he  respects,  and  fears  to  receive  their  condemnation. 
He  likes  to  live  up  to  the  standard  they  have  of  him. 
He  prefers,  too,  not  to  let  his  companions  beat  him  even 
at  a  task.  If  he  identifies  himself  with  his  school  or  class 
with  loyal  esprit  de  corps,  a  slur  on  its  honour  or  reputa- 
tion stirs  his  resentment.  Hence  his  curiosity  about 
something  may  be  prolonged  into  a  persistent  and  patient 
inquiry,  and  the  tendency  to  disturbance  may  be  re- 
strained, if  the  impulse  to  inquiry  is  supported  by  appeals 
to  other  sides  of  his  nature.  Discipline,  thus,  is  a  judicious 
and  tactful  strengthening  and  prolonging  of  the  main 
impulses  of  inquiry  and  action  by  appeals  to  other  innate 
impulses. 

Among  the  many  appeals  to  which  instruction  should 
resort  are  the  dominance  of  a  personal  authority  pleasantly, 
tactfully,  and  justly  exercised  so  as  to  arouse  the  boy's 
respect  and  confidence,  and  the  persuasiveness  of  a 

5* 


68          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

sympathy  that  uplifts  the  boy  into  friendly  fellowship 
with  his  teacher.  These  are  the  personal  instruments  of 
a  teacher's  art  by  which  he  plays  on  the  boy's  affection, 
fellowship,  respect,  and  fear,  and  brings  forth  willing  effort 
to  attain  the  ideal  the  teacher  has  of  him.  With  such 
authority  and  sympathy,  criticism,  suggestion,  praise, 
blame,  approbation,  and  disapprobation  are  encouraging 
and  stimulating  of  activity.  Even  corporal  punishment, 
under  such  conditions,  is  not  merely  repressive  ;  it  is  also 
directive,  for  to  physical  pain  is  added  the  shame  of 
bearing  a  respected  friend's  strong  disapproval.  It 
thus  bars  the  road  to  evil,  and  helps  along  the  path  of 
righteousness. 

The  individualistic  and  social  impulses  should  also  be 
aroused  to  strengthen  and  steady  the  impulses  of  inquiry 
and  action.  The  fighting  spirit  is  strong  in  the  boy,  and 
competition,  rivalry,  and  emulation  are  healthy  forms  of 
life  if  restrained  by  feelings  of  honour  and  fair-play,  and 
balanced  by  a  loyal  esprit  de  corps  that  esteems  the 
reputation  of  a  class  for  good  work  as  of  greater  moment 
than  an  individual  success. 

But  above  all  other  forms  of  stimulus  is  the  inspiration 
of  personal  enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm  is  contagious,  and 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  teacher  for  this  or  that  subject,  for 
skill,  for  games,  for  honest  work,  for  keenness,  for  fair-play, 
for  the  school  reputation,  or  for  whatever  else  it  may  be, 
if  it  be  real  and  living,  quickly  infects  the  whole  class  or 
school.  The  class,  thus,  becomes  a  community  pervaded 
by  a  common  spirit.  Such  a  quickening  spirit  radiating 
from  a  teacher's  personality  and  ruling  the  whole  school 
is  the  strongest  influence  that  can  be  brought  to  stimulate 
and  direct  to  valuable  ends  the  forces  pent  up  in  the  boy's 
nature.  Its  discipline  is  the  highest  form  of  discipline, 
for  it  is  the  discipline  of  human  inspiration ;  and  it  should 
be  the  highest  aim  of  a  teacher  to  enthuse  his  school  with 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          69 

an  all-pervading  spirit  of  true  work,  of  pride  in  manual 
skill,  of  independence  and  initiative,  of  keen  strife  and 
loyalty.  Such  a  tone  is  impossible  in  the  circumscribed 
life  of  the  classroom  desk.  It  can  be  produced  only  by 
an  appeal  to  those  impulses  that  are  more  strongly  and 
freely  manifested  in  outdoor  recreations,  games,  contests, 
sports,  school  clubs,  societies,  and  the  like.  These  are 
essential  to  the  formation  of  a  strong  corporate  spirit 
animated  by  a  sturdy  and  manly  tone.  The  institution  of 
school  games  and  contests,  and  their  elevation  to  a  posi- 
tion of  greater  seriousness  and  respect  would  do  much 
to  raise  and  strengthen  the  tradition,  tone,  and  corporate 
spirit  of  the  primary  school,  and  these  are  the  main  sources 
of  a  school's  moral  strength. 

Inspiration,  sympathy,  even  authority  and  the  spur  of 
competition,  are  needed  throughout  the  whole  of  life  to 
strengthen  and  steady  endeavour  to  a  persistent  and 
courageous  performance.  There  are  few  even  of  the  most 
self-contained  men  who  can  persistently  put  forth  their 
highest  efforts  unless  sustained  by  the  affectionate  sym- 
pathy of  their  friends  or  stimulated  by  the  admiration  of 
enthusiastic  followers.  Rivalry  is  too  common,  and  often 
too  prominent,  a  motive  to  need  our  emphasis.  Judiciously 
used  it  gives  zest  to  effort  without  breeding  too  great  an 
envy.  Authority  prevents  much  backsliding  amongst 
the  weaker  many.  But  pronounced  influence  of  an  ex- 
ternal character,  however  wisely,  judiciously,  and  tact- 
fully used,  should,  in  the  long  run,  give  place  to  the  inner 
discipline  of  self-control.  Freedom  is  the  final  goal  in 
the  education  of  manhood.  Yet  freedom  must  come 
gradually,  so  that  the  power  of  self-mastery  can  strengthen 
itself  over  the  little  things  before  it  faces  the  stronger 
temptations  of  life.  But  some  measure  of  responsibility 
should  not  be  too  long  delayed.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
impulses  of  self-assertion  and  independence  are,  during 


70          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  early  years  of  adolescence,  gathering  strength,  and, 
unless  won  to  the  side  of  work  and  duty,  either,  innately 
weak,  they  will  be  repressed  and  for  want  of  exercise 
will  never  grow  to  manly  strength,  or,  natively  strong, 
will  be  warped  into  sullen  and  obstinate  forms  and  find 
a  vicious  bent  in  the  quarrels  and  bickerings  of  the  play- 
ground and  the  streets.  Too  strait  a  governance  during 
this  age  often  results  in  creating  an  inner  spirit  of  law- 
lessness with  an  outer  subservience  to  the  law's  force,  a 
state  characteristic  of  the  hooligan.  In  the  senior  school, 
then,  the  modes  of  learning  and  of  discipline  should  give 
increasing  opportunities  for  independent  learning,  for 
initiative,  and  for  personal  responsibility,  opportunities 
which  are,  under  present-day  primary  school  methods, 
hardly  ever  provided.  It  is  a  common  reflection  passed  by 
business  men  on  the  product  of  our  primary  schools  that 
youths  of  fourteen  cannot  be  left  in  charge  of  any  respon- 
sible task,  and  that  even  the  smallest  measure  of  freedom 
meets  with  abuse.  Is  not  the  explanation  of  this  common 
failure  to  rise  to  responsibility  to  be  found  in  the  too 
much  detailed  teaching  and  supervision  and  the  too  little 
independent  learning  of  the  methods  traditional  in  the 
primary  school  ? 

The  methods  of  discipline  and  instruction  adopted  in 
the  school  should  throw  an  increasing  amount  of  respon- 
sibility on  the  pupil  as  he  gets  older.  The  conditions 
of  the  classroom  hardly  provide  the  best  field  for  inde- 
pendent work.  Out-of-classroom  work  is  much  more 
generous  in  opportunities.  Such  out-of-classroom  pur- 
suits are  handicrafts,  games,  and  field  work  in  geography, 
nature  knowledge  and  practical  mathematics.  Still  freer 
modes  of  work  are  possible  by  organizing,  in  connexion 
with  the  school,  reading  circles  for  literature  and  history, 
ramblers'  clubs  for  geography  and  nature  study,  sports 
clubs,  and  scout  patrols.  By  these  means  the  pupils 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          71 

will  become  accustomed  to  increasing  responsibility,  and 
the  elder  boys  will,  in  some  measure,  become  initiated  to 
the  partial  control  of  the  younger  boys.  The  boy  of 
fourteen  is,  of  course,  far  too  young  to  have  placed  in 
his  hands  either  full  control  over  young  pupils  or  perfect 
freedom  for  his  own  activity.  Still,  it  is  only  when  re- 
sponsibility is  placed  on  pupils  that  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility is  encouraged,  and  it  is  wonderful  how  boys  even 
of  thirteen  and  fourteen  rise  to  the  occasion. 

Side  by  side  with  the  stimulation  of  desire  and  the 
inspiring  direction  of  purpose  should  proceed  the  develop- 
ment of  power  of  mind  and  of  body,  power  to  under- 
stand things  and  to  deal  effectively  with  them  in  action. 
Two  agencies  are  at  the  instructor's  command  in  direct- 
ing this  development.  One  is  the  activity  by  which  the 
boy  receives  and  makes  his  own  the  thought  and  modes 
of  action  of  those  around  him,  and  which  may  be  called 
his  receptivity.  The  other  is  the  force  which  urges  him 
to  understand  things  by  his  own  effort  and  adapt  his 
ideas  and  actions  according  to  his  personal  experience  of 
things.  This  is  the  boy's  originality.  Both  agencies 
are  constantly  in  operation  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  life,  determining  the  growth  of  power.  In  some 
people  receptivity  is  a  stronger  influence  than  originality  ; 
these  are  the  people  of  imitative  mould.  In  others 
originality  is  a  markedly  strong  impulse ;  these  are 
the  leaders  and  inventors.  Yet,  whether  a  person  be 
strongly  receptive  or  strongly  inventive,  both  agencies  are 
at  work,  not  antagonistic  to  each  other,  but  as  comple- 
ments the  one  of  the  other ;  the  one  filling  up  the 
deficiencies  and  rounding  off  the  points  and  angles  of 
the  other. 

The  boy  shows  his  receptivity  in  the  way  he  imitates 
the  actions  of  others,  by  his  readiness  to  act  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  those  he  thinks  wiser  than  himself,  and  by 


72          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

his  appetite  for  imbibing  ideas  and  information  from  all 
and  sundry.  It  is  only  natural  that  what  he  thus  re- 
ceives he  only  partly  understands.  He  can  grasp  it 
only  so  far  as  his  past  experience  throws  light  on  it. 
Moreover,  it  only  falls  on  an  open  and  willing  mind  if  it 
can  be  brought  into  relation  with  some  desire  or  purpose 
that  is  moving  him  to  think  or  act.  Thus,  all  ideals, 
thoughts,  or  actions  that  are  suggested  are  not  used. 
Some  enter  only  to  be  rejected  ;  others  to  languish  and 
die  for  want  of  exercise.  Only  those  add  to  the  boy's 
power  that  take  some  hold  on  his  feelings  and  help  for- 
ward some  purpose  on  which  his  mind  is  set.  In  re- 
ceiving these  he  fits  them  into  his  experience,  makes  use 
of  them  in  his  thought  and  actions,  acts  them  out  in 
some  way  in  his  own  life,  and  so,  bit  by  bit,  comes 
to  a  fuller  and  fuller  understanding  and  appreciation  of 
them.  But  such  understanding  and  appreciation,  let  it 
be  noted,  are  his  own,  marked  by  his  own  individuality. 
Thus,  during  his  years  of  growth,  through  his  receptivity, 
he  makes  his  own  the  thought  and  modes  of  action  of 
those  around  him,  and,  acting  these  out  in  his  own  way, 
he  moulds  his  life  in  ideals  and  tastes,  in  opinions  and 
beliefs,  in  behaviour,  manners  and  speech  on  the  social 
pattern. 

Without  this  power  of  assimilating  the  experience  of 
others,  advance  would  be  very  painful  and  slow.  If  left 
to  his  own  originality  to  interpret  the  world  and  adapt 
his  ideas  and  actions  to  constantly  changing  conditions, 
a  child  would  hardly  advance  beyond  the  most  elementary 
forms  of  dealing  with  things.  Receptivity,  thus,  makes 
for  rapid  advance  along  the  line  of  social  tradition.  It  is 
by  means  of  this  activity — the  great  conserving  agency  in 
civilization — that  social  tradition  is  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation.  Education,  if  it  means  any- 
thing at  all,  means  that  the  elders  of  one  generation  lead 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          73 

their  children  to  assimilate  all  that  they  conceive  to  be  good 
and  true,  and  useful  and  beautiful  in  their  own  civilization, 
and  they  do  this  well  only  in  so  far  as  they  lead  their 
children  to  understand  it  and  use  it,  so  that  it  becomes 
power  to  deal  with  the  world.  Instruction,  then,  must 
make  use  of  imitation  and  suggestion  as  two  of  the  most 
important  of  the  school's  educative  agencies.  Indeed, 
when  one  compares  the  ignorance  of  youth  with  the  power 
necessary  for  effective  manhood,  one  realizes  that,  during 
the  period  of  growth,  the  boy  must  be  very  largely  re- 
ceptive, copying  from  others  in  thought  and  action,  and 
in  standards  of  appreciation. 

Every  piece  of  teaching  and  discipline  is,  in  a  large 
measure,  an  organization  of  the  agencies  of  imitation  and 
suggestion.  Especially  are  these  agencies  influential, in 
forming  character  when  the  suggestion  emanates  from  a 
personality  that  evokes  the  pupil's  sympathy,  admiration, 
and  reverence.  The  heroes  of  literature  and  history 
should  act  thus  on  the  young  mind.  In  the  influence  of 
the  school  tradition,  too,  the  past  lives  and  operates 
through  the  force  of  suggestion.  Just  as  tradition  in  a 
family  leads  each  generation  to  endeavour  to  live  up  to 
the  standard  the  past  sets,  so  a  strong  school  tradition 
inspires  each  succeeding  race  of  pupils  to  greater  effort. 
Happy  is  the  schoolmaster,  and  fortunate  is  the  school- 
boy, whose  school  has  a  long  line  of  old  pupils  who  have 
won  honours  not  only  in  the  field  of  scholarship,  but 
also  in  the  battle  of  life.  Their  high  example  gives 
their  successors  a  pride  in  their  school,  and  is  a  spur  to 
their  endeavour  to  live  up  to  it.  It  should  be  one  of 
the  great  aims  of  a  schoolmaster  to  establish  for  his 
school  such  a  tradition,  and  to  make  it  a  living  force  to 
evoke  a  high  school  pride.  Unfortunately  for  the  primary 
school  it  has  become  the  custom  for  the  pupils,  on  leaving, 
to  pass  away  and  sever  all  connexion  with  their  school. 


74          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

There  is,  usually,  no  old  boys'  club,  no  past  v.  present 
match,  no  link  whatever  to  bind  the  present  to  the  past 
and  to  foster  pride  in  a  school  tradition.  Such  a  link  is 
more  difficult  to  forge  in  a  day  school  than  in  a  boarding 
school,  and  most  difficult  of  all  when  the  pupils  leave  so 
young  as  fourteen.  Yet  it  is  net  impossible,  and  the  gain 
in  morale  is  greatly  worth  the  trouble. 

Receptivity,  thus,  makes  for  continuity  of  social  tradi- 
tion. It  also  makes  for  solidarity  amongst  the  members 
of  society.  As  each  receives  into  his  own  life  the  ex- 
perience of  those  around  him  and  acts  it  out  in  his  own 
thought  and  conduct,  he  learns,  through  the  resulting 
experience,  to  know  and  appreciate  the  ideas  and  feelings 
of  others.  The  little  girl  playing  at  funerals  and  acting 
the  grief  and  sorrow  at  the  imagined  loss  of  a  loved  child 
is,  as  far  as  her  small  experience  goes,  bringing  herself 
into  sympathetic  touch  with  all  who  suffer  grief  and  loss. 
She  realizes  through  her  imitative  act  something — though 
by  no  means  all — of  what  it  means  to  suffer  bereavement, 
and,  in  consequence,  her  sympathies  go  out  with  greater 
warmth  to  those  in  distress.  Every  such  imitation  acted 
out,  and  every  suggestion  taken  into  one's  life  thus  makes 
the  bond  between  oneself  and  others  a  closer  and  a 
stronger  one. 

But  receptivity,  while  conserving  the  good  in  tradition, 
also  conserves  the  bad.  By  itself  it  means  stagnation. 
For  the  standard  of  thought  and  conduct  to  advance, 
receptivity  must  be  supplemented  by  the  action  of  dis- 
covery and  invention  which  are  the  outcome  of  the 
originality  of  the  human  organism.  The  two  acting 
together  are  the  complement,  the  one  of  the  other  ;  the 
one  preserves  the  continuity  of  social  tradition  and 
maintains  its  solidarity  and  stability,  thus  making  a  sound 
basis  for  progress,  indeed,  by  its  action,  making  advance 
in  any  wise  possible ;  the  other,  taking  advantage  of  the 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          75 

advances  of  the  past,  uses  them  as  stepping-stones  for 
further  onward  movement.  Thus,  civilization,  both  in 
the  nation  and  in  the  individual,  progresses  on  its  steady 
onward  march  by  means  of  the  combined  agencies  of 
receptivity  and  originality,  of  imitation  and  invention,  of 
conservatism  and  radicalism. 

The  originality  of  the  boy  is  seen  in  the  impulses  of 
inquiry  and  action  by  which  he  is  led  to  experience 
things  for  himself,  interpret  them  without  external  sugges- 
tion, and  invent  modes  of  suitable  action.  These  innate 
impulses,  as  we  have  seen,  lead  him  to  use  his  sense 
organs  on  all  things  within  his  range,  impel  him  to 
handle  them  and  move  them  about  in  every  possible  way, 
often  just  to  satisfy  the  mere  impulse  of  "  seeing  what 
will  happen  ".  In  a  thousand  ways  he  is  consciously  and 
unconsciously  experimenting  with  his  environment,  and 
every  experiment  adds  to  his  experience  of  the  things 
about  him,  of  how  he  should  act  to  them,  and  of  how 
they  react  to  him,  of  the  pleasures  and  satisfactions  that  can 
be  won  from  them,  and  of  the  pains  and  disappointments 
that  should  be  avoided.  Originality,  then,  is  the  spirit 
of  inquiry,  of  experiment,  of  independent  action  by  which 
the  boy  learns  for  himself  and  profits  by  his  experience. 
It  is  the  impulse  that  lies  at  the  root  of  self-learning. 
Hence  instruction  should  establish  it  as  the  mainspring 
of  all  intellectual  striving. 

Every  object  and  event  should  be  looked  at  as  present- 
ing some  problem  to  be  inquired  into,  as  demanding  an 
explanation,  as  requiring  to  be  turned  to  use  ;  and  sugges- 
tions as  to  how  it  should  be  dealt  with,  experimented 
with,  considered  and  used,  should  be  demanded  of  the 
pupils  and  should  be  freely  offered  by  them.  Naturally, 
suggestions  will  often  be  crude  and  wide  of  the  mark, 
indicative  of  want  of  experience  and  hasty  thought,  and 
the  teacher  will  need  to  be  both  stimulating  in  hinting 


76          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

at  new  and  better  lines  of  thought  for  the  pupils  to  open 
out  and  follow,  and  critical  of  suggestions  when  given. 
Fertility  of  suggestion,  ready  initiative  and  ingenuity  can- 
not be  perfected  at  once.  Progress  is  often  slow  but,  as  long 
as  the  pupil's  mind  is  alert  and  ready  to  seize  on  new  points 
and  to  grasp  their  bearing,  open  to  examine  likely  com- 
parisons and  contrasts,  and  steady  and  persistent  in 
following  up  a  line  of  inquiry,  good  is  being  done  even 
if  there  be  little  result  in  the  shape  of  number  of  facts 
learnt  or  conclusions  established.  The  inquiring  habit 
of  mind  is  the  all-important  characteristic,  not  the  amount 
of  information  absorbed.  The  one  is  essential  to  power, 
the  other  is  destructive  of  it,  for  in  mere  absorption,  which 
is  distinct  from  receptivity,  the  mind  is  stolidly  passive,  at 
least  so  far  as  its  power  to  deal  with  things  is  concerned. 
A  grave  danger,  however,  lies  in  originality  being  allowed 
to  waste  itself  in  aimless  inquisitiveness,  futile  imaginings 
and  irresponsible  action.  The  impulses  of  inquiry  and 
independent  action  need,  as  do  all  impulses,  to  be  under 
the  control  of  purpose,  which  will  lift  them  from  the 
plane  of  aimless  and  flighty  curiosity  to  that  of  the  pursuit 
of  some  definite  end,  and,  hence,  they  require  the  guidance 
of  an  inspiring  and  regulating  discipline. 

Though  the  force  of  originality  is  the  mainspring  of 
mental  activity,  yet  receptivity  must  not  be  regarded  as 
being  passive.  Receptivity  is  not  the  same  as  mere  ab- 
sorption of  other  people's  facts  and  ideas.  Mere  absorp- 
tion, as  we  have  said,  leads  simply  to  storing  the  mind 
with  facts  and  rules.  It  cannot  lead  to  power.  As  we 
have  seen,  a  suggestion  to  become  a  power  in  life  must 
be  assimilated  into  the  stream  of  mental  activity.  It 
must  be  fitted  into  one's  experience,  used  in  one's  thought 
and  action,  and  acted  out  in  some  way  or  other.  In  this 
assimilation  lies  the  opportunity  for  originality.  The  way 
the  mind  interprets  the  suggested  idea,  brings  it  into 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          77 

relation  with  some  purpose  to  be  accomplished,  uses  it 
to  develop  a  line  of  thought  or  action,  is  entirely  an  in- 
dividual process,  marked  by  originality,  and  is  essentially 
active. 

Moreover,  what  others  think  and  how  others  act  are  as 
fit  objects  for  inquiry  as  are  the  qualities  of  things ;  and 
the  spirit  of  inquiry  may  find  in  the  study  of  a  book,  in 
listening  to  an  address,  or  in  watching  some  action  being 
performed  by  another,  as  fine  a  field  for  exercise  as  in  a 
laboratory.  The  essence  of  active  inquiry  is  the  en- 
deavour to  develop  a  line  of  thought  to  some  end,  to  try 
to  interpret  and  explain  facts,  and  to  call  up  suitable 
comparisons  and  contrasts  to  aid  the  judgment  in  forming 
conclusions.  What  is  interpreted  or  explained  may  be 
presented  by  observing  an  object,  by  watching  an  experi- 
ment, through  the  pages  of  a  book,  or  in  the  words  of  a 
lecturer.  It  is  the  attitude  of  mind  to  what  is  presented 
that  makes  the  inquiry,  not  the  external  forms  on  which 
many  modern  writers  seem  to  insist  so  much.  Physical 
activity  in  laboratories,  workshops,  and  in  the  field  does 
not  necessarily  imply  mental  activity,  nor  mental  activity 
the  activity  of  invention.  But  just  because  it  is  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  that  makes  the  inquirer,  there  may  be  much 
working  in  laboratories  and  workshops,  as  there  may  be 
much  listening  and  reading,  that  exhibits  no  vestige  of  in- 
dependent thought.  Reading  and  listening  may  be  simply 
imbibing  in  which  there  is  no  particle  of  independent 
and  critical  judgment.  Similarly,  watching  and  handling 
things  in  a  laboratory  or  workshop,  no  matter  how  much 
each  pupil  works  separately  from  the  others,  may  be  the 
merest  mechanical  carrying  out  of  instructions,  worthless 
except  for  training  manipulative  skill.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  much  of  the  so-called  independent  learning  from 
books  and  of  the  individual  work  in  laboratories  and  work- 
shops never  rises  above  the  plane  of  absorption.  The 


78          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

pupils  are  hardly  even  receptive,  for  they  do  not  assimilate 
what  they  read  and  do.  Whatever  be  the  work  the 
pupils  are  engaged  in — listening  to  oral  teaching,  reading 
from  books,  or  working  independently  in  workshop  or 
laboratory — it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  en- 
courage initiative,  ingenuity,  and  independent  judgment. 

Another  aspect  of  power  has  important  applications 
in  teaching  method.  Power  to  deal  with  things  has  a 
double  aspect — the  inner  side  of  thought  and  feeling,  and 
the  outer  side  of  physical  expression  and  action.  The 
two  together  are  necessary  for  any  effective  dealing  with 
things. 

If  we  agree  with  Professor  James,  we  would  affirm 
that,  so  far  as  feeling  is  concerned,  the  inner  state  is  due 
to  sensations  resulting  from  the  physical  state  ;  that  is, 
we  first  strike  the  angry  blow  and,  as  a  result,  feel  angry, 
or  we  assume  the  attitude,  demeanour  and  looks  of  pity 
and  then  feel  the  pity.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not  is  a 
theoretical  point,  and  is  probably  an  extreme  view. 
What,  however,  is  clear  is  that  the  inner  feeling  and  the 
outer  expression  are  so  intimately  connected  that  they 
are  two  aspects  of  one  organic  state.  To  increase  or  de- 
crease the  physical  action  is  to  increase  or  decrease  the 
internal  feeling.  Thus  we  learn  to  control  our  feelings 
by  inhibiting  their  physical  expression,  and,  conversely, 
we  intensify  our  feelings  by  giving  free  rein  to  their  ex- 
pression and  intensifying  the  outer  forms  by  every  means 
in  our  power.  For  example,  we  may  lessen  the  feeling 
of  fear  and  heighten  our  courage  in  the  face  of  danger 
by  endeavouring  to  preserve  a  calm  and  steadfast  de- 
meanour and  simulating  a  jauntiness  of  bearing.  We 
can,  thus,  carry  ourselves  through  a  trial  bravely  when 
our  first  impulse  was  to  turn  tail  and  run. 

Symbols,  forms,  signs,  and  ritual  all  act  in  the  same 
way  as  outer  expressions  for  sentiments.  They  become 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          79 

centres  round  which  vague  feelings  can  crystallize  into 
definite  shapes  and  become  ideas.  The  vague  feeling  of 
nationality,  for  example,  finds  a  point  of  concentration  in 
the  Flag  and  the  National  Anthem,  and  the  sentiment 
takes  clearer  form  in  the  chorus  "  Britons  never  shall  be 
slaves  ".  In  the  Army  and  Navy,  in  the  Church,  in  secret 
societies,  and  at  elections  frequent  use  is  made  of  such 
devices  to  intensify  feeling  and  to  focus  it  on  some  de- 
finite sentiment.  Regimental  standards,  battle  cries, 
signals  to  the  fleet,  watchwords,  the  cross,  and  church 
ritual  have  played  great  parts  in  human  history,  and  it  is 
obvious  that,  since  they  have  moved  armies,  navies,  and 
whole  nations  to  great  deeds,  similar  devices  can  play  an 
important  part  in  the  development  of  feeling  and  senti- 
ment in  the  young.  A  school  cap,  badge  or  colours, 
and  a  motto  are  valuable  aids  to  concentrating  corporate 
feeling  and  stimulating  esprit  de  corps.  A  solemn  ritual 
intensifies  the  awe  and  reverence  of  a  religious  service. 
A  merry  verse  is  all  the  more  appreciated  by  singing  it 
to  a  merry  tune,  and  the  appeal  is  more  fundamental  still 
if  assisted  by  dance  and  action.  The  rhythm  of  poetry 
is  felt  with  greater  force  either  if  the  voice  give  expres- 
sion to  it,  or  if  some  movement  of  the  body  beat  it  out 
in  time.  A  scene  acted  or  dramatically  recited  with  ap- 
propriate action  and  gesture  appeals  to  the  imagination 
and  emotion  with  greater  „  force  than  if  read  silently. 
Hence  acting,  dramatic  recitation,  and  singing  should  be 
used  as  aids  to  the  appreciation  of  literature,  and  patriotic 
songs,  national  emblems  and  flags,  the  ritual  of  saluting 
the  flag,  national  days,  historic  pageants  and  tableaux 
are  valuable  means  for  strengthening  the  patriotic  senti- 
ment. Similar  ritual  and  symbolism  should  be  freely 
used  at  school  assemblies. 

Even  in  smaller  matters  the  outer  symbolism  and  forms 
of  sentiment  should  not  be  overlooked.     Standing  at  the 


8o          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

entrance  of  a  visitor,  capping  a  master  or  elder  in  the 
street,  shaking  hands  before  and  after  a  contest  in  wrestl- 
ing or  boxing,  cheering  the  visitors  at  the  close  of  a 
school  match,  may  be  considered  small  points  in  them- 
selves, but  each  has  its  weight  in  cultivating  respect  and 
good  feeling.  A  wise  teacher  will  search  for  all  the  most 
appropriate,  simple,  and  appealing  forms  of  expression 
on  which  the  main  sentiments  that  school  should  cultivate 
can  concentrate  themselves.  He  will  institute  them  as 
school  customs  to  be  invariably  used  on  appropriate  occa- 
sions, and  will  endeavour  to  give  to  each  a  meaning  as 
rich,  as  moving,  and  as  potent  for  action  as  possible. 

The  value  of  outer  expression  is  no  less  important  for 
thought  than  it  is  for  feeling.  Outer  expression  at  once 
brings  the  thought  to  a  point,  and  materializes  it  in  some 
perceptible  form,  which  brings  out  whatever  of  vagueness 
and  inaccuracy  pervades  it.  Indeed,  an  idea  must  have 
crystallized  beyond  a  certain  degree  of  nebulosity  before 
expression  in  any  form  becomes  at  all  possible,  and  the 
intangible  thought  that  cannot  be  seized  and  forced  to 
manifest  itself  in  some  perceivable  form  is  of  little  use  in 
a  practical  world.  Try  to  reproduce  the  shape  of  an 
object  with  the  pencil  or  its  colour  with  the  brush,  and 
you  will  find  that  neither  casual  observation  nor  desultory 
memory  will  serve  you.  You  must  have  cultivated  first 
the  "  seeing  eye  "  that  goes  beyond  mere  looking  to  the 
perception  of  form  and  colour  with  nice  discrimination  as 
to  proportion,  curvature,  relation  of  lines  to  each  other, 
and  shades.  Again  try  to  put  an  idea  into  words  and 
you  must  have  grasped  with  some  distinctness  those 
qualities  and  relations  involved  in  its  meaning  that  are 
represented  by  the  nouns,  verbs,  adjectives,  and  adverbs 
of  your  speech  ;  and  the  greater  clearness  with  which  you 
analyse  your  thought,  the  greater  is  the  nicety  with  which 
you  select  your  language.  For  example,  compare  the 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          81 

boy  who  writes  "  the  snow  fell "  with  the  one  who  says 
"  the  large  white  flakes  floated  silently  down  through  the 
still  air ".  The  former  has  grasped  the  bare,  bald  fact 
crudely ;  the  latter  has  noticed  the  kind  of  flakes  that 
fall  in  still  weather,  and  how  they  come  down  in  a  way 
quite  different  from  the  falling  of  rain  or  hail.  The 
former  has  looked  but  not  seen  anything  but  the  obvi- 
ous, the  latter  has  the  " seeing  eye". 

If,  after  expressing  your  thought  in  words,  some  second 
person  read  your  account  the  clearness  of  your  thought  is 
brought  to  the  further  test  of  his  understanding.  Can  he 
from  your  expression  think  your  thought?  To  make 
clear  to  others  your  understanding  of  a  thing  is  a  very 
fair  test  of  your  power  over  your  own  thought  of  the 
thing,  a  conclusion  that  teachers,  of  all  people,  should  take 
to  heart.  Hence  the  writing  of  essays  and  answers  to 
questions,  and  the  drawing  and  painting  of  objects,  if 
effort  be  made  to  secure  exactness  and  clearness,  and  if 
followed  by  the  acute  criticism  of  a  competent  teacher, 
are  very  important  modes  of  cultivating  mental  power. 

Verbal  expression  is,  in  many  respects,  a  more  valu- 
able mental  discipline  than  practical  action.  It  demands 
a  deeper  analysis  of  the  event  than  does  action,  which 
often  "gets  there"  without  one's  knowing  how  it  arrives. 
A  bowler  who  can  make  a  ball  spin,  break,  or  swerve  often 
cannot  say  with  any  clearness  how  he  does  it,  or,  to  take 
an  example  from  the  schoolroom,  a  boy,  if  asked  to  place 
the  cross  pieces  of  a  "  square  "  kite  in  position,  can  do  so 
at  once,  but  more  often  than  not  he  cannot  express  with 
any  precision  the  relationship  he  has  established  between 
them.  Verbal  expression  and  the  drawing  arts  should, 
then,  have  a  place  in  every  lorm  of  education,  since  they 
are  so  essential  to  exact  thinking  and  careful  observation. 
For  pupils  whose  hands  must  serve  their  brains  a  more 
practical  form  of  expression  is  also  indispensable.  In- 

6 


82          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

deed,  there  are  many  forms  of  knowing  in  which  verbal  ex- 
pression, if  not  actually  impossible,  is  most  inappropriate. 
For  example,  it  matters  little  whether  a  bowler  can  or  can- 
not say  how  he  sends  down  the  ball.  The  important  thing 
is  that  he  can  capture  wickets ;  and  a  similar  judgment  is 
true  of  many  actions  that  an  artisan  is  called  on  to  per- 
form. Verbal  or  some  other  form  of  expression  is  most 
appropriate  in  actions  of  considerable  complexity  in  which 
a  line  of  conduct  has  to  be  planned  out.  When  an  action 
involves  some  complex  arrangement  of  things,  extending, 
perhaps,  over  some  considerable  period  of  time,  and  the 
possibilities  of  error  are  numerous,  the  whole  process 
needs  to  be  thought  out  in  advance  with  the  aid  of 
words,  diagrams,  and  other  symbols  of  thought.  If  it  is 
to  be  successful  the  performance  of  such  an  act  cannot 
be  left  to  a  process  of  trial.  Intelligence  must  make 
clear  to  itself  the  exact  nature  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  action  has  to  take  place. 

Our  knowledge  of  swimming,  for  example,  is  best  ex- 
pressed in  the  act  of  swimming,  and  not  in  that  of  talking 
about  it,  and  may  well  be  learnt  by  the  empiric  method 
of  trial  and  failure  (though  I  must  own  that,  in  my  own 
case,  I  made  little  progress  in  the  art  until  I  had  made 
clear  to  my  intelligence  the  action  of  the  palms  of  the 
hands  on  the  water).  On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  set 
about  making  a  monoplane  to  swim  in  air  without  plan- 
ning the  whole  process  beforehand  with  the  aid  of  dia- 
grammatic, mathematical,  and  verbal  expression.  There 
must  be  made  clear  the  exact  relation  of  the  weight  of 
the  ship  to  the  weight  of  the  air,  and  the  various  pressures 
that  must  be  exerted  by  the  propeller  on  the  air  and  the 
air  on  the  planes.  Even  then,  the  final  test  of  our  practical 
power  over  the  air  is  our  ability  to  convert  our  idea  of  an 
aeroplane  into  an  actual  aeroplane  that  flies.  Ideas  that 
look  very  well  on  paper  have  a  way  of  turning  out  very 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION         83 

badly  in  practice,  as  many  an  inventor  knows  to  his  cost. 
Many  a  pupil  thinks  he  knows  how  to  measure  the  area 
of  a  field  or  make  a  jointed  box  because  he  has  grasped 
the  diagrams  and  verbal  explanations  of  the  theory.  His 
castle  in  the  air,  however,  often  proves  to  be  a  delusion 
when  every  step  in  the  practical  doing  brings  difficulties 
unthought  of  in  mastering  the  theory,  and  demands  initia- 
tive and  ingenuity  in  adapting  an  outline  process  (which 
is  all  that  theory  can  give)  to  a  particular  case ;  a  power 
of  adaptation  that  is  all-important  for  success  in  practical 
life. 

In  school  work,  then,  the  power  to  think  should  be 
trained  in  close  correlation  with  some  form  of  analytic 
expression  on  the  one  side,  and  with  some  form  of  practi- 
cal action  on  the  other.  For  exactness  and  definiteness 
of  expression  the  language  and  drawing  arts  are  the 
most  valuable,  to  which  painting  and  modelling  may  be 
added  when  colour  and  solid  form  are  involved.  The 
drawing  arts  are  particularly  valuable  in  all  forms  of 
craftmanship.  Drawing  to  scale  is  a  necessary  prelimin- 
ary to  all  exact  workmanship.  Bold,  free,  quick  sketch- 
ing to  outline  the  main  features  of  an  object  or  process 
is,  also,  a  necessary  and  valuable  accomplishment. 

Outward  expression  of  thought  and  artistic  expression 
of  feeling  always  involve  some  form  of  bodily  skill.  If 
some  form  of  skill,  such  as  carving,  be  examined,  it  is 
evident  that  the  perfection  of  skilled  power  is  due  to  a 
combination  of  intelligence  and  automatism.  In  the  main, 
intelligence  is  the  higher  power  directing  and  controlling 
the  activity  towards  its  end,  and  automatism  is  the 
machinery  which  intelligence  makes  use  of,  and  without 
which  its  aims  and  plans  would  be  but  empty  dreams. 

Intelligence  plays  its  first  part  in  skill  in  planning  the 
action  before  the  movement  actually  begins.  The  end  has 
to  be  conceived,  and  the  action  planned  in  main  outline. 

6* 


84          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

The  conception  of  the  end  gives  the  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  taste  and  for  flights  of  the  imagination. 
All  good  works  of  skill  are  marked  by  an  effort  to  obtain 
either  artistic  effect  or  perfection  of  utility.  The  intelli- 
gence, however,  must  bring  its  ideals  down  to  earth,  and 
the  end  must  be  conceived  in  relation  to  the  actual  con- 
ditions of  things  and  especially  in  relation  to  the  practical 
process  of  attaining  it.  The  mind,  therefore,  must  grasp 
the  conditions  truly  in  width  of  outlook  and  in  exactness 
of  detail,  in  telescopic  perspective  as  well  as  in  micro- 
scopic definiteness. 

The  preliminary  work  of  mind  in  inventing,  planning, 
and  designing  is  a  part  of  skill  that  cannot  be  neglected. 
It  is  essential  to  all  the  higher  forms  of  craftmanship. 
There  can  be  no  real  training  in  skill  without  the  training 
in  taste,  in  beauty  of  form  and  colour,  and  without  a 
training  of  the  imagination  to  original  and  bold  invention. 
At  the  same  time,  the  training  should  develop  these  in 
relation  to  practical  intelligence  which  takes  account  of 
the  actual  conditions  of  materials  and  tools. 

When  the  action  begins  intelligence  takes  up  another 
role.  Its  work  is  not  done.  Attention  cannot  for  a 
moment  be  relaxed  as  long  as  the  movement  is  progress- 
ing. Its  incidence,  however,  is  not  so  much  on  the 
actual  movements  of  the  body  as  on  the  material  being 
operated  on  or  the  external  circumstances  being  controlled. 
Intelligence  is  directed  outward  through  the  senses.  The 
eyes  are  watching,  the  ears  listening,  and  the  fingers 
feeling.  By  every  appropriate  sense,  intelligence  is  in- 
forming itself  of  the  state  of  the  material  and  the  changes 
taking  place  in  it.  Intelligence,  then,  in  skilled  activity 
is  perceptual,  but  it  is  perceptual  in  a  different  way 
from  that  in  observation.  In  observation  we  may  be 
said  to  perceive  in  order  to  know.  In  skilled  activity  we 
perceive  in  order  to  act,  and  hence,  every  impression  of 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          85 

sight,  hearing,  touch,  and  movement  has  to  be  interpreted 
not  as  knowledge,  but  in  terms  of  action. 

It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  may  say  that  "  the  hand 
guides  the  eye".  It  does  so,  however,  through  the 
medium  of  the  intelligence  which  has  to  give  meaning  to 
the  sense  impressions  it  receives  in  the  light  of  its  previ- 
ous experience  and  of  its  present  aims.  It  should,  how- 
ever, be  remembered  that  "  the  eye  "  is  not  the  only  sense 
that  guides,  nor  "  the  hand"  the  only  instrument  of  move- 
ment. Sight,  touch,  hearing,  and  the  sense  of  movement 
are  almost  always,  in  varying  proportions,  factors  in  the 
control.  Of  special  importance,  though  very  liable  to  be 
unnoticed  on  account  of  their  obscurity,  are  the  sensa- 
tions of  movement.  These  give  us  impressions  of  the 
amount,  kind,  quickness,  and  intensity  of  the  movement 
and  of  the  muscular  effort  made.  They  give  us,  usually, 
the  first  indication  whether  a  movement  is,  or  is  not, 
likely  to  be  successful.  The  memory  of  them  invariably 
acts  as  a  subconscious  guide  to  movement.  Without 
them  and  the  control  they  give,  skilled  movement  would 
be  impossible.  Their  importance  for  teaching  method 
lies  in  the  fact  that  they  can  only  be  experienced  by 
actually  practising  the  movements  that  give  rise  to  them. 
In  no  way  can  we  obtain  a  second-hand  experience  of 
them.  They  are  so  obscure  and  vague  that  there  is 
hardly  a  vocabulary  in  which  to  describe  them.  We 
cannot,  by  watching  the  movements  of  others,  gain  much 
idea  of  their  nature.  Practising  movements  with  a  view 
to  controlling  material  is,  then,  the  only  way  of  obtaining 
this  motor  experience  without  which  skill  is  impossible. 

Besides  the  hand,  many  other  parts  of  the  body  are  en- 
gaged in  the  movements  of  skill.  The  arm,  shoulders,  the 
trunk,  the  legs  and,  in  many  cases,  the  chest  and  lungs 
are  brought  into  action  to  support  the  movements  of  the 
hand.  Some  control  the  direction  of  the  movement, 


86          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

some  the  degree  of  its  force,  and  others,  such  as  the 
trunk  and  legs  and  the  chest,  operate  in  such  a  way  as 
to  give  the  fullest  effect  to  the  movements  of  the  arm 
and  hand. 

Intelligence,  we  have  seen,  is  directed  rather  to  the 
effects  of  movement  than  to  the  movements  themselves. 
These  in  perfect  skill  are  performed  with  perfect  auto- 
matism. For  example,  intelligence  issues  the  command 
to  strike  the  open  chord  in  key  C,  and,  if  the  person  be  a 
skilled  piano  player,  the  arm,  hand,  and  fingers  move  in 
harmonious  co-ordination  without  intelligence  doing 
more  than  note  the  general  arrangement  of  black  and 
white  keys  on  the  piano-board.  In  playing  a  simple 
chord  the  automatism  involved  is  of  a  fairly  simple 
character.  Its  full  complexity  is  exhibited  in  playing  a 
symphony  or  fugue  on  the  organ,  when  the  fingers  of  each 
hand  and  the  feet  are  engaged  in  a  series  of  rapid  move- 
ments, and  yet  the  movements  of  each  have  to  be  co- 
ordinated with  those  of  the  others,  in  order  to  keep  correct 
time  and  secure  the  right  rhythm  and  expression. 
Sometimes,  it  is  true,  intelligence  is  called  in  to  attend  to 
the  motor  co-ordination.  This  is  always  the  case  in 
learning  a  movement,  and  when  a  mistake  has  been 
made  or  a  hitch  occurs.  All  such  attention  to  the 
mechanism  of  movement  is,  however,  a  sign  of  imperfect 
skill. 

It  is  obvious  that  such  automatism  is  a  great  gain  to 
power.  It  is  not  only  economical  of  energy,  but  it  makes 
for  quickness,  ease,  and  smoothness  of  action.  The  more 
the  various  muscles  and  groups  of  muscles  can  act  together 
in  adaptive  action  with  machine-like  precision,  the 
more  perfect  will  the  result  be.  Awkwardness  and 
clumsiness  are  evidence  of  want  of  perfect  mechanism  in 
muscular  co-ordination.  Ease,  smoothness,  grace,  and 
quickness  of  movement  are  the  signs  of  perfect  automatism. 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          87 

Automatism  is  seen  not  only  in  the  co-ordination  of 
movement,  but  also  in  the  guidance  of  movement  by  the 
senses.  For  example,  a  fencer  guides  his  movements  by 
watching  the  face  and  actions  of  his  opponent,  and 
feeling  the  pressure  and  movement  of  his  foil.  The 
impressions  he  receives  he  interprets  as  signs  of  this  or 
that  form  of  attack.  The  interpretation,  however, 
cannot  rest  at  this  point.  Intelligence  must  respond  by 
instituting  a  suitable  reply.  As  we  have  already  said,  in 
action,  impressions  need  to  be  interpreted  in  terms  of 
movement  adapted  to  the  circumstances.  In  this  response 
readiness,  quickness,  and  sureness  are  the  marks  of 
skilled  action.  Action  should  follow  close  on  the  heels 
of  impression,  and  with  certain  effect. 

Readiness,  sureness,  and  quickness  of  action  are  due 
to  automatism,  partly  on  the  perceptual  and  partly  on  the 
motor  side  of  the  process.  In  perceiving,  the  senses  should 
be  alert  in  seizing  on  impressions,  and  the  intelligence 
quick  to  recognize  them.  These  marks  of  good  percep- 
tion only  come  by  much  practice.  A  doctor  readily  picks 
out  the  symptoms  of  those  diseases  of  which  he  has  most 
experience.  He  is  a  skilled  doctor  when  seeing  and 
recognizing  become  automatic,  the  quickness  and  sure- 
ness  of  his  diagnosis  resting  on  a  well-oiled  perceiving 
mechanism.  Similarly,  by  much  practice,  a  painter, 
carver,  fencer,  or  craftsman  attains  to  sureness  and 
quickness  in  skill  by  training  the  senses  to  alertness  in 
perceiving,  and  the  intelligence  to  quickness  in  recog- 
nizing. 

The  impressions  recognized,  the  intelligence  proceeds 
to  institute  the  motor  response  to  complete  the  action. 
Here,  again,  automatism  makes  for  perfection.  Thought 
often  means  hesitation  and  bungling,  and  is  always  slow. 
The  skilled  fencer  does  not  reflect  on  the  guards  by 
which  he  parries  the  lunges  of  his  opponent.  These  are 


88          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

made  more  quickly  than  thought  A  smooth-working 
mechanism  alone  can  produce  that  instantaneous  and 
certain  motor  response  which  is  the  hall-mark  of  perfect 
skill. 

The  above  analysis  of  the  action  of  intelligence  and 
automatism  on  the  sensory  and  motor  sides  of  skill  has 
important  bearings  on  the  training  of  it. 

Skill  is  seen  to  be  a  matter  of  intelligence,  something 
in  which  taste,  imagination,  invention,  and  quick  and  acute 
perception  are  involved.     It  is  obvious,  then,  that  only 
those  practical  pursuits  that  exercise  these  activities  will 
train  a  perfect  skill.     Physical  exercises,  Swedish  drills, 
and  other  more  or  less  mechanical  forms  of  movement 
do  not   attain   to  this  educational  standard.     They  do 
not  cultivate  taste,  nor  imagination,  nor  invention,  nor 
even    the  practical   qualities  of  intelligence   that    show 
themselves  in  alertness,  resource,    and  sureness.     They 
do,  of  course,  develop  a  motor  organization,  and  so  pro- 
duce ease  and  smoothness  of  movement.     It  is,  however, 
a  motor  organization  divorced  from  anything  which  can 
control  or  guide  it  in  doing  the  work  of  life.     Mechanical 
drills   can    form   a    good    motor   machine,    but   cannot 
cultivate  the  power  to  use  it  for  an  aesthetic,  useful,  or 
recreative  purpose.     It  is  as  if  one  tried  to  train  a  fencer 
by  practising  him  in  the  lunges  and  parries  of  the  art, 
without  ever  allowing  him  to  face  an  opponent  to  learn 
to  use  his  head  and  his  senses.     The  pursuits  that  are 
valuable  in  training  all  sides  of  skill  are  those  which  ex- 
ercise the  motor  machinery  in  conjunction  with  perceptual 
intelligence   for  the  accomplishment  of  some  aesthetic, 
useful,  or  recreative  purpose. 

Such  pursuits  include  drawing,  painting,  carving, 
modelling,  handicrafts,  football,  cricket,  fencing,  boxing, 
wrestling,  dancing,  and,  may  we  add,  that  form  of  ex- 
pressing the  rhythm  and  feeling  of  music  in  graceful 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          89 

movement  which  has  been  perfected  by  M.  Jacques 
Dalcroze,  and  to  which  he  has  given  the  name  of  Eu- 
rhythmies. 

At  the  same  time,  any  high  degree  of  skill  can  only  be 
attained  by  perfecting  the  automatism  of  motor  co-ordina- 
tion and  of  motor  response  to  sensory  stimuli.  There  is 
one  royal  road  to  this,  and  that  is  by  practice.  Practice, 
more  practice,  and  still  more  practice  is  the  only  prescrip- 
tion for  perfect  skill.  Practice  makes  perfect  in  the 
sense  that  it  fixes  and  stereotypes  in  the  system  a  way  of 
doing  something.  But  it  may  fix  a  wrong  way  as  easily 
as  a  right  one,  and  this  frequently  happens  in  training  the 
young.  There  are  so  many  wrong  ways  of  doing  things 
and  so  few  right  ones,  and  the  wrong  ones  are  usually  so 
much  easier  to  do  than  the  right  ones,  that  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that,  in  any  form  of  skill  from  walking  and  talking 
to  painting  and  carving,  more  pupils  practise  the  actions 
wrongly  than  rightly ;  as  witness  the  number  of  men  and 
women  who  have  become  slovenly  walkers  and  talkers, 
and  inefficient  manipulators  of  the  pencil  and  brush, 
although  they  have  spent  years  in  the  practice  of  these 
arts. 

The  remedy  for  the  practising  of  wrong  forms  of  action 
is  to  demonstrate  the  elements  of  each  form  of  move- 
ment with  pronounced  clearness,  even  with  exaggerated 
emphasis,  and  then  to  cause  each  to  be  practised  until 
some  degree  of  automatism  has  been  fixed.  The  practice 
should  be  accompanied  by  the  searching  criticism  and 
the  stimulating  correction  of  a  competent  and  tactful 
teacher.  Practice  without  criticism  and  correction  is 
usually  worse  than  useless. 

Practice  after  demonstration  is,  in  reality,  a  form  of 
drill,  which,  under  the  discipline  of  criticism  and  correc- 
tion, is  necessary  in  training  every  form  of  skill.  To 
become  an  efficient  pianist  the  learner  must  spend  months 


90          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

at  scales.  So,  too,  in  learning  to  talk  with  correct  pro- 
nunciation and  distinct  enunciation,  to  sing  with  good 
tone,  to  draw  with  easy  boldness,  to  paint,  to  use  tools, 
to  carve,  to  box,  to  fence,  to  wrestle,  to  do  anything 
which  has  to  be  learnt,  a  prolonged  period  of  practice, 
of  drill,  is  required  to  make  the  senso-motor  machinery 
smooth  and  easy  of  working. 

Drill,  however,  is  mechanical.  It  tends  to  dullness, 
and  is  usually  unintelligently  and  grudgingly  performed. 
To  some  extent  this  could  be  remedied  by  leading  the 
pupils  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  drill  so  that,  although 
it  is  drudgery,  it  will  not  be  unintelligent  drudgery. 
Further,  mechanical  drill  should  always  be  in  periods 
short  but  of  frequent  recurrence.  A  burst  of  attentive 
effort  to  improve  can  then  be  maintained  during  the 
whole  period  of  the  practice.  The  question,  however, 
which  should  naturally  arise  in  a  teacher's  mind  is :  need 
drills  be  dull  and  mechanical?  Cannot  the  necessary 
exercises  be  presented  in  some  form  that  will  awaken 
interest,  stimulate  desire,  and  arouse  the  imagination  and 
the  intelligence?  A  little  reflection  will  show  that  in 
almost  every  form  of  activity  exercises  can  be  wrapped 
up  in  attractive  forms.  For  music  pupils  there  are  pub- 
lished "  studies  "  in  scales  which  not  only  give  the  desired 
practice,  but  which  aim,  also,  at  an  aesthetic  effect.  In 
the  same  way  many  formal  physical  exercises  can  be  pre- 
sented as  simple  gymnastic  games.  Forms  for  making 
interesting  and  imaginative  the  practice  in  drawing, 
painting,  and  handicraft  will  readily  suggest  themselves 
to  the  teacher  of  resource.  A  good  teacher  will  never 
make  "  work "  a  drudgery.  He  will  use  every  device 
that  ingenuity  can  suggest  to  make  work  attractive,  to 
lead  pupils  to  grasp — and  what  is  better,  to  appreciate 
with  intensity — the  value  of  it,  and  to  arouse  desire  for 
improvement ;  yet,  he  will  keep  his  eye  fixed  all  the  time 


DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION          91 

on  securing  those  necessary  conditions  of  practice,  criti- 
cism, and  correction  that  are  essential  to  a  skilled  power 
of  value. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  drill,  in  whatever 
form  it  is  presented,  is  only  a  means,  not  an  end.  It  is 
preparatory  to  the  engaging  in  those  practical  pursuits 
which  demand  the  exercise  of  taste,  imagination,  inven- 
tion, and  practical  perceptual  intelligence.  These  pur- 
suits are  the  staple  pursuits  in  the  training  of  skill  of 
any  high  order. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CURRICULUM  OF  THE  PRIMARY  ARTISAN  SCHOOL. 

SCHOOL  instruction,  we  have  seen,  educates  through  the 
spirit  of  its  discipline.  It  finds  its  living  hold  on  the 
boy's  will  by  its  appeal  to  his  spontaneous  interests, 
feelings,  and  activities,  but  it  should  also  uplift  it  to 
loftier  aims  and  strengthen  it  in  manly  persistence.  The 
mainstay  of  the  school  discipline  should  be  stimulus  and 
encouragement  which  are  exemplified  in  their  highest  and 
most  powerful  form  in  the  inspiration  that  emanates  from 
a  teacher  of  powerful  and  sympathetic  personality.  Such 
inspiration  acts  directly  between  the  teacher  and  each 
individual  pupil,  but  most  intensely  through  a  corporate 
spirit  of  honest  work,  manly  strife  and  loyalty,  which  is 
at  once  the  highest  product  of  the  educator's  art  and 
the  main  channel  of  his  disciplinary  power.  The  object 
of  discipline  is  the  development  of  power — intellectual,- 
moral,  and  physical — of  a  vigorously  dynamic  order  that 
has  for  its  end  effective  practical  action  in  life's  work. 
On  its  inner  side  power  is  exhibited  in  a  spirit  of  keen 
inquiry  ordered  by*  an  acute  intelligence.  On  its  out- 
ward side  it  shows  itself  in  a  growing  skill,  in  ingenuity 
and  initiative  in  dealing  practically  with  things,  and  in 
spirited  and  honourable  competition  and  co-operation 
in  work  and  games. 

The  utility — in  its  broadest  sense — of  the  whole  in- 
struction lies  in  its  bearing  on  the  boy's  life,  not  only  in 
the  distant  future  of  manhood,  but  also  in  the  present 

92 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL     93 

period  of  boyhood  and  youth.  The  power  cultivated  by 
the  disciplined  activity  of  the  school  occupations  should 
have  such  a  hold  on  the  boy's  nature  and  should  be  in 
such  touch  with  his  surroundings  that  the  boy  can  use  it 
in  his  everyday  out-of-school  life.  It  should  be  no  such 
artificial  power  as  can  be  used  only  in  artificial  tasks 
specially  designed  for  classroom  conditions.  The  streams 
of  the  boy's  experience  in  and  out  of  school  should 
mingle  inextricably  with  each  other — the  one  refining, 
chastening  and  idealizing,  the  other  enlivening,  strengthen- 
ing and  bringing  to  practical  earth — so  that  his  whole 
life's  experience  flows  forward  in  one  broad  flood,  in- 
creasing slowly  but  surely  in  the  depth,  breadth,  and 
intensity  of  its  power,  and  in  the  force  with  which  it 
moulds  the  boy's  will  towards  the  goal  of  manly  virtues 
and  power. 

Every  part  of  the  school  organization  should  be 
so  devised  as  to  strengthen  such  a  formative  discipline  of 
the  powers  of  active  learning  and  of  intelligent,  spirited 
action:  On  the  one  side,  the  scope  of  the  school  occupa- 
tions, their  nature,  and  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  carried 
on  will  determine  the  kind  of  intellectual  and  physical 
powers  that  will  be  called  into  activity  ;  and  the  extent 
to  which  such  occupations  can  be  brought  into  close 
harmony  with  the  boy's  out-of-school  experience  will  be 
the  measure  of  their  permanent  value.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  teacher's  personality,  his  living  hold  on  the 
boy's  will,  his  power  over  the  subjects  he  teaches,  and 
his  enthusiasm  for  them  are  the  human  forces  that  will 
inspire  the  boy  to  effort,  strengthen  his  persistence,  in- 
tensify his  strenuousness,  and  guide  the  growth  of  his 
many-sided  powers  to  a  wider  and  higher  skill.  These, 
the  occupations  and  the  living  force  of  a  human  character, 
are  the  fundamental  influences  of  school  life,  and  they 
can  have  their  fullest  and  highest  effect  only  when  the 


94          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

buildings  and  equipment  give  unhampered  scope  for  their 
perfect  action.  Important  as  buildings  and  equipment 
are,  however,  they  are  but  the  shell  to  enclose  the  living 
forces  of  the  school  pursuits  and  the  teacher's  power. 
Splendid  buildings  and  elaborate  equipment  without  the 
inner  quickening  spirit  are  like  a  nut  with  a  withered 
kernel.  A  good  teacher  is  a  great  educative  force  even 
with  bare  walls  and  rough  benches,  and  his  ingenuity 
will  devise  means  out  of  the  cheapest  and  rudest  materials 
for  carrying  on  every  manner  of  intelligent  inquiry  and 
practical  pursuit.  The  bad  teacher  with  all  the  material 
resources  that  money  can  buy  and  with  all  the  external 
forms  of  inquiry  and  practical  occupation,  is  the  dead 
hand  of  a  lifeless  corpse.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  teacher 
and  of  his  teaching  that  is  the  breath  of  the  school's 
life. 

The  problems  of  the  organization  of  the  teachers  and 
of  the  buildings  and  equipment  must  be  left  as  big 
questions  for  future  chapters.  They  cannot  be  dismissed 
in  a  word.  What  concerns  us  at  present  is  the  scope 
and  nature  of  the  school  pursuits,  and  the  methods  of 
teaching  them  so  that  intelligent  inquiry,  self-study, 
practical  action,  and  a  high  spirit  of  work  may  be  em- 
bodied in  the  learning  of  them. 

The  school  occupations  should,  we  have  seen,  serve 
both  a  cultured  and  a  practical  end.  To  many  these 
may  seem  opposed  or  even  contradictory  aims. 
Certainly,  if  culture  be  limited  to  a  narrow  literary  and 
aesthetic  culture,  and  practical  work  to  the  strictest 
utilitarianism,  they  are,  if  not  antagonistic,  as  opposite 
as  the  two  poles.  Between  them  is  a  deep  gulf  over 
which  each  looks  at  the  other  with  every  mark  of  contempt. 
In  a  wide  and  generous  perspective  of  life  culture  and 
practical  affairs  are  not  seen  in  opposition.  Human  life 
presents  to  us  two  sides  :  an  inner  side  of  reflection  and 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL     95 

imagination,  and  an  outer  side  of  acting  with  things  and 
men  to  accomplish  practical  ends.  When  these  are 
separated,  the  one  from  the  other,  when  they  do  not 
blend,  each  loses  in  richness  of  content,  in  the  scope  of 
its  power,  and  in  its  touch  with  the  whole  of  life  and  of 
human  nature.  Human  life  should  be  one.  Its  activity 
on  its  inner  and  outer  sides  should  express  an  under- 
lying unity.  The  inner  life  of  reflection  and  imagination 
has  its  highest  work  in  refining,  rationalizing,  and  ideal- 
izing in  truth,  in  beauty,  and  in  goodness  the  outer  side 
of  material  and  practical  action.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  practical  side  of  life  enriches,  vitalizes,  and  humanizes 
the  ideals  of  the  inner  life  by  its  close  and  intimate  touch 
with  things  and  men. 

A  culture,  then,  that  can  find  little  outlet,  or  none,  in 
practical  life  and  citizenship  is  an  affectation  and  a  senti- 
mentality. It  is  a  devitalized  shadow  with  no  hold  on 
real  life.  On  the  other  hand,  a  life  starved  in  ideals  and 
devoid  of  principles  is  either  a  sordid  getting  of  material 
gains  or  a  pursuit  of  sensuous  appetites  unless,  indeed, 
as  sometimes  happens,  it  be  so  empty  of  inner  purpose  as 
to  be  but  a  monotonous  routine  and  a  mechanical  grind. 

True  culture  is  eminently  practical.  Its  object  is  to 
raise  the  standard  of  one's  daily  work  and  life  so  that 
one  finds  in  them  more  to  occupy  the  intelligence  and 
imagination,  to  call  out  the  instinct  to  truth  and  beauty, 
and  to  inspire  to  high  effort.  It  has  its  fullest  hold  on 
life  when  it  makes  of  the  daily  work  and  task  a  joy  and 
a  pleasure,  and  when  in  the  performance  of  them  the 
imagination  inspires  one  to  a  higher  and  higher  perfection 
of  work  and  workmanship.  True  culture,  then,  exhibits 
itself  in  goodness,  and  beauty,  and  truth  of  life  in  all  its 
aspects,  in  the  daily  task  as  much  as  in  the  evening's 
recreation.  When  the  daily  work  is  begun  and  carried 
through  in  the  spirit  of  perfection,  with  the  object  of 


96          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

getting  the  most  out  of  it  for  the  soul,  then  it  is  in  its 
truest  essence  culture.  A  man  who  puts  his  spiritual  life 
into  his  work,  and  from  his  work  feeds  his  spiritual  life, 
has  the  fire  of  true  culture  in  him,  however  narrow  a 
field  its  light  may  illumine.  The  aim  of  the  school,  then, 
should  be  so  to  combine  culture  and  utility  in  its  pur- 
suits that  it  may  produce  in  the  lives  of  its  pupils  a 
practical  culture  and  a  cultured  practice. 

What,  then,  should  be  the  scope  of  the  cultured  and 
practical  pursuits  of  a  school  ?  The  answer  is  to  be  found 
in  a  consideration  of  the  fundamental  tendencies  of  human 
life.  Each  one  of  us  finds  within  himself  some  spon- 
taneous response  towards  a  higher  ideal.  A  noble  and 
chivalrous  deed,  an  unselfish  and  self-denying  action,  a 
deed  of  courage  strike  answering  chords  in  our  hearts,  and 
we  are  uplifted  above  the  commonplace,  the  prosaic,  the 
sordid,  and  the  petty.  Such  inner  forces  are  the  springs 
of  our  spiritual  life,  and  to  nourish  and  strengthen  them 
we  must  feed  them  on  a  lofty  tradition.  They  must  be 
fed  on  something  or  die.  Shall  they,  in  the  case  of  our 
artisan  youths,  feed  on  the  deeds  of  the  bully,  the  brag- 
gadocio, and  the  pirate,  and  grow  to  perverted  and  base 
forms  of  admiration  and  reverence — since  human  nature 
must  reverence  something  great  and  powerful,  either  the 
greatly  good  or  the  greatly  bad, — or  shall  they  be  fed 
on  the  noblest  and  purest  traditions  enshrined  in  our 
national  literature  ?  English  literature  abounds  in  poems, 
ballads,  and  stories  the  most  heroic,  romantic,  and  ad- 
venturous, such  as  will  capture  every  young  boy's  heart 
if  it  be  not  perverted.  These  are  the  English  boys' 
spiritual  heritage.  To  deprive  them  of  it  is  to  rob  them 
of  their  birthright ;  and  their  right  is  to  feed  on  the  best 
that  England's  great  spirits  have  left  in  heroic  tradition. 
To  literature,  then,  we  give  first  place  in  the  programme 
of  school  culture. 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL     97 

But  to  enter  with  heart  and  understanding  into  litera- 
ture involves  a  power  over  the  English  language — not  as 
she  is  spoken,  but  as  she  is  written.  The  language  of 
literature  is  not  the  language  of  the  street  or  the  home. 
It  is  more  continuous  and  coherent  in  its  thought,  more 
vivid  and  forceful  in  its  style,  more  lofty  and  exalted  in 
its  appeal  to  noble  passion.  In  the  extent  of  its  voca- 
bulary, in  the  precision  in  the  use  of  its  words,  in  the 
connectedness  of  its  structure,  in  the  force  and  beauty  of 
its  figures  it  is  a  new  language  to  be  learnt.  The  boy 
cannot  learn  it  if  he  never  hears  it,  and  if  he  does  not  read 
it  often.  Hence  our  teachers  must  read  much  to  their 
pupils,  bringing  out  the  beauty  and  force  of  the  language 
and  thought,  and  the  play  of  fancy  and  feeling  ;  and  our 
pupils  must  read  much  to  themselves  and  for  themselves. 

Second  in  the  list  of  great  tendencies  of  our  nature  are 
those  that  bind  us  to  our  fellows  in  corporate  life.  Man 
cannot  bear  to  live  alone.  He  likes  to  feel  the  crowd 
about  him,  to  have  its  support  in  thought  and  in  action, 
and  to  receive  its  praise  and  approbation.  To  satisfy 
this  mob  instinct  he  forms  clubs,  societies,  and  unions,  to 
think,  feel,  and  act  in  unison  with  his  fellows  for  common 
purposes  of  religion,  politics,  amusement,  or  for  the 
pursuit  of  beauty  and  truth.  By  thinking,  feeling,  and 
acting  corporately  in  such  societies  there  grow  up  a 
corporate  intelligence,  a  corporate  conscience,  and  a 
corporate  life,  different  from  his  individual  intelligence, 
conscience,  and  life.  The  widest  secular  community 
that  claims  him  and  with  which  he  can  identify  himself 
is  the  nation.  Into  this  community  he  is  born.  To  it 
he  has  duties,  and  from  it  he  claims  rights. 

How  can  these  innate  instincts  to  corporate  life  expand 
to  the  height  and  breadth  of  national  life?  How  can 
they  be  disciplined  to  a  keen  and  intelligent  interest  in 
national  affairs,  and  to  strong  practical  action  for  the 

7 


98          PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

national  good?  These  aims  can  be  attained  only  by 
feeding  the  boy's  social  impulses  on  a  national  tradition 
presented  so  as  to  stir  his  pride,  arouse  his  admiration 
and  reverence,  stimulate  his  intelligence,  and  urge  him 
to  patriotic  action.  History  is  the  nation's  tradition,  and 
tradition  when  we  come  under  its  sway  is  all-powerful. 
A  family  with  a  tradition  has  a  force  pervading  its  family 
life  that  strengthens  it  and  carries  it  on  from  generation 
to  generation  with  increasing  force.  Each  generation 
imbibes  the  tradition,  glories  in  it,  lives  up  to  it,  and 
hands  it  on  stronger  than  ever  to  the  next  generation. 
The  tradition  is  the  source  of  the  family  pride  and 
the  family  honour,  at  times  the  family  curse.  The  school 
that  has  a  strong  and  lofty  tradition  and  that  boasts  a 
roll  of  honourable  names,  has  a  living  force  abiding  in  it 
that  moulds  each  succeeding  generation  of  pupils,  and 
uplifts  each  and  all  above  the  common  herd. 

As  with  the  family  and  school,  so  it  is  with  the  nation. 
The  national  tradition  should  be  used  so  as  to  be  a 
powerful  influence  in  the  life  of  the  young,  impelling  them 
to  think,  feel,  and  act  in  harmony  with  the  noblest  spirit 
of  the  nation's  past.  It  should  act,  too,  as  a  force  urging 
youth  to  enter  with  enthusiasm  into  those  forms  of 
national  activities  that  are  suited  to  their  age.  Tradition, 
however,  should  be  an  enlightening  and  an  enlightened 
one.  It  should  lead  us  to  enter  with  understanding  into 
the  needs  and  aspirations  of  the  nation,  and  to  perceive 
the  value  of  those  organizations  and  institutions  by  which 
the  nation's  will  expresses  itself  in  a  national  voice  and 
in  national  action.  The  aim,  then,  of  the  teaching  of 
history,  as  far  as  primary  and  secondary  education  is  con- 
cerned, is  to  inspire  youth  with  national  feelings,  imbue 
them  with  national  sentiment,  and  enlighten  them  as  re- 
gards the  national  life. 

Like  all  noble  traditions,  history  should  inspire  those 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL     99 

who  come  under  its  sway  to  loving  service.  There  is  no 
vital  strength  in  a  community  the  members  of  which  can 
speak  only  of  their  rights.  Corporate  life  that  has  real 
strength  is  based  on  the  service  of  each  member.  Each 
member  owes  a  duty  to  the  community  in  his  thoughts, 
his  words,  and  his  deeds.  "  Ich  dien "  is  the  glorious 
motto  of  our  royal  house ;  it  should  be  the  watchword  of 
every  loyal  citizen.  It  is,  then,  essential  in  the  teaching 
of  history  to  make  use  of  every  opportunity  and  to  de- 
vise means  for  national  sentiment  in  the  young  to  find 
expression  in  some  form  of  national  service. 

A  nation  does  not  live  alone  self-contained  and  self- 
sufficing.  It  lives  its  life  only  with  the  help  of,  and  in 
relation  with,  other  nations.  Commodities  pass  freely 
from  country  to  country  to  satisfy  the  needs  and  tastes  of 
the  inhabitants  of  each  ;  and  not  commodities  only,  but 
political  ideas  and  moral  and  religious  truths  spread  from 
land  to  land  to  bring  about  a  spiritual  communion  as 
commerce  does  an  economic  one.  To  understand  our 
place  in  the  economic  and  political  life  of  the  nations  is 
the  necessary  complement  to  understanding  our  national 
life  ;  and  to  think  internationally  brings  us  to  the  study 
of  geography. 

The  life  of  the  people  of  a  country  is  determined  largely 
by  its  geographic  conditions,  its  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  climate,  of  resources,  and  of  means  of  com- 
munication. This  is  true  not  only  of  the  economic  life 
of  a  people,  but  also  of  its  social  and  political  life.  It  is 
true,  also,  of  its  history.  Each  type  of  natural  region — 
fertile  river  valley,  wide  grasslands,  mountain  region — 
has  its  own  peculiar  kinds  of  industry.  Each  has  a 
social  organization  and  a  political  machinery  to  suit  its 
own  conditions.  The  logic  of  geography  is  felt,  too,  in 
the  movements  of  history.  Rome,  Alexandria,  Venice  rose 
to  power  before  the  discovery  of  the  New  World,  owing 

7* 


ioo        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

to  their  Mediterranean  position.  So,  too,  Spain,  Portugal, 
France,  Holland,  and  England,  after  that  discovery,  were 
by  the  inevitable  logic  of  geography  the  natural  inheri- 
tors of  Venetian  greatness.  England's  isolated  position 
made  her  the  last  to  feel  the  movement  to  world  commerce 
and  empire.  It  determined  also  that,  once  having  felt  it, 
she  should  win  the  race.  Nor  are  we  even  to  this  day 
free  from  the  influence  of  geographic  conditions  in  the 
history  of  nations.  The  policy  of  each  nation  is  inevit- 
ably controlled  and  determined  by  questions  of  defensive 
frontiers,  resources  of  industry,  and  means  of  communi- 
cation. Each  country  seeks  a  frontier  that  is  a  natural 
barrier.  It  seeks,  too,  to  bring  under  its  own  government 
all  those  sources  of  industry  and  means  of  communication 
that  are  vital  to  it.  Thus,  Germany  looks  to  control  the 
whole  Rhine ;  Austria,  the  Danube ;  Russia  seeks  ice-free 
ports  to  the  West,  South,  and  East ;  Egypt  cannot  per- 
mit the  head  waters  of  the  Nile  to  be  in  alien  hands ; 
India  needs  a  defensible  North-West  frontier.  At  every 
point  in  the  life  of  a  country  and  in  its  history,  geogra- 
phical conditions  play  their  part,  moulding  the  character 
of  its  people,  determining  their  staple  occupations,  the 
bent  of  their  civilization,  the  nature  of  their  social  in- 
stitutions, the  ramifications  of  their  economic  and  political 
power,  and  the  sphere  of  their  influence  in  the  world. 
So  studied,  geography  brings  the  mind  right  up  against 
the  larger  forces  of  Nature  that  determine  man's  life  and 
the  destiny  of  nations.  It  also  gives  us  an  insight  into 
the  manifold  diversity  of  the  human  societies — their 
politics,  economies,  and  civilizations — that  make  up  the 
international  world  community. 

In  the  largeness  of  its  appeal  to  the  imagination,  geog- 
raphy transcends  even  literature  and  history,  for  its  story 
is  the  story  of  a  mighty  conflict  of  nature  and  man  in 
every  age  and  in  every  clime.  In  the  dawn  of  nations 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN -SGHQOL    iqi 

it  shows  us  Nature  all-powerful,  and  man  wandering  in 
steppe  and  forest  at  the  mercy  of  summer's  drought  and 
winter's  frost,  his  movements  hindered  and  checked  by 
sea,  forest,  mountain,  desert,  and  fen,  subsisting  only  by 
his  own  rude  strength  and  self-preserving  instincts,  with 
but  poor  skill  to  till  the  soil,  herd  his  cattle,  and  fashion  im- 
plements to  satisfy  his  wants.  Where  national  spirit 
does  not  exist  and  civilization  is  weak,  such  is  still 
man's  condition,  a  slave  to  Nature's  rule.  But  when 
nationality  has  struggled  into  being  and  strengthened  it- 
self in  wise  government,  civilization  rules  Nature's  forces 
with  a  strong  and  knowing  hand.  Forests  are  cleared, 
fens  are  drained,  steppes  and  arid  wastes  are  watered 
and  fertilized,  the  wide  spaces  of  the  earth  are  opened 
to  man's  rule  by  rail  and  canal,  the  seas  become  the  high- 
ways of  the  nations,  time  and  space  are  annihilated  by 
telegraph  and  cable,  harbours,  towns,  breakwaters,  dykes, 
dams,  barrages,  irrigation  works,  and  all  the  great  and  vast 
organization  and  the  numerous  appliances  of  industry  and 
commerce  spring  into  being,  and  everywhere  Nature  is 
made  to  yield  of  her  plenty  under  the  coaxing  hand  of 
man's  intelligence  and  the  lash  of  his  will.  Such  is  the 
story  geography  tells  in  many  and  varied  tones  in  every 
civilized  land.  It  is  no  dry-as-dust  story  except  when 
petrified  in  the  pages  of  a  textbook.  Told  by  one  whose 
imagination  has  been  captivated  by  its  wonders,  it  is  a 
mighty  epic  of  a  mighty  struggle,  full  of  romance  and 
adventure  and  of  heroic  strife,  and  with  no  less  a  theme 
than  the  destiny  of  man.  If  it  be  presented  with  insight 
and  imagination,  there  is  no  subject  that  can  be  put  be- 
fore the  pupil,  that  will  give  him  so  wide  a  perspective 
of  man  in  his  environment,  determining  it  and  being 
determined  by  it,  that  will  so  enlarge  his  mind  with 
broad,  fruitful  and  generous  ideas,  that  will  so  uplift  his 
imagination  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  his  everyday 


102,       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

field  of  vision,  and,  yet,  that  will  bring  home  to  him  with 
such  force  his  dependence  on  Nature  and  its  resources,  and 
on  the  activities  of  his  fellow  human  beings  in  many 
lands.  Taught  in  this  spirit  and  with  this  aim,  geography 
takes  its  place  with  history  and  literature  as  one  of  the 
great  branches  of  human  culture. 

Of  the  innate  spontaneous  tendencies  of  the  mind  there 
is  none  so  noticeable  in  modern  times  as  the  demand  of 
the  intellect  to  know  the  world  in  which  we  live,  both  for 
the  power  knowledge  brings  and  for  the  pure  intellectual 
satisfaction  of  knowing.  It  is  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind  to  seek  freedom.  As  the  will  demands  freedom 
from  external  control  and  so  gains  moral  power,  so,  too, 
the  intellect  demands  knowledge  to  free  itself  from  the 
trammels  of  the  unknown  in  space  and  time,  and,  in  doing 
so,  gains  power  over  the  universe.  It  is  this  inquiring 
tendency,  this  spirit  of  intellectual  discovery,  that  should, 
in  this  age  of  knowledge,  be  fostered  in  our  schools  and 
disciplined  by  their  influence.  The  boy  should  be  set  on 
the  way  to  a  knowledge  of  nature,  girt  with  the  weapons 
of  inquiry  and  infused  with  the  spirit  of  discovery.  The 
store  of  his  information  is  no  great  matter.  Power,  not 
possession,  is  our  end.  The  inquiring  attitude  of  his 
mind,  the  freedom  with  which  it  ranges,  the  alertness 
with  which  it  seizes  the  new,  and  the  soundness  with 
which  it  interprets,  are  the  measures  of  his  intellectual 
progress.  The  pupil,  then,  should  in  his  small  way  be  a 
discoverer  of  Nature's  secrets,  sharpening  his  perceptual 
intelligence  in  observing  and  experimenting  on  things, 
and  strengthening  the  flight  of  his  imagination  by  seek- 
ing to  fathom  the  explanation  of  their  being  and  condi- 
tion. The  study  of  nature  is  pre-eminently  one  of  the 
main  paths  to  intellectual  culture. 

Literature,  history,  geography,  and  nature  knowledge, 
thus,  make  up  the  main  studies  by  which  the  boy's 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL    103 

spiritual,  social,  and  intellectual  tendencies  will  expand 
and  be  led  into  the  main  stream  of  modern  intellectual 
culture.  Each  of  these  branches  of  study  has,  however, 
its  own  appropriate  means  for  the  expression  of  thought 
and  feeling.  Language,  poetry,  music,  drawing,  painting, 
modelling,  and  practical  action  are  the  main  modes  of 
expression.  Where  knowledge  is  to  be  expressed,  exact- 
ness and  clearness  in  outlining  truth  are  the  essential 
qualities  to  be  sought;  where  feeling,  beauty  should 
characterize  the  expression. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  inner  life  of  thought  and  feeling 
and  the  outer  manifestations  of  this  life  in  some  mode  of 
expression  should  grow  together ;  the  inner  life  of  the 
spirit  giving  richness  of  meaning  to  the  outer  form,  and 
the  outward  expression  crystallizing  the  inner  meaning  in  a 
higher  exactness  and  distinctness  of  truth,  and  in  a  clearer 
perception  of  its  beauty.  To  secure  and  maintain  this 
harmony  of  outer  and  inner  growth,  as  the  boy  progresses 
in  his  studies  in  the  various  branches  of  culture,  so  should 
his  power  in  the  various  modes  of  expression  advance. 
Exactness  in  speech  and  with  pencil,  skill  with  brush 
and  modelling  tool,  ease  and  dexterity  in  practical  action 
are  attainments  as  necessary  to  the  pursuit  of  learning  as 
is  intellectual  power,  and  without  them,  truth  and  beauty 
can  be  attained  only  maimed  and  shorn  of  a  great  portion 
of  their  glory.  The  arts  of  expression,  then,  are  im- 
portant branches  of  study  for  every  school — no  less  im- 
portant in  the  artisan  than  in  the  secondary  school ; 
though,  owing  to  limits  of  time  and  to  claims  of  greater 
practical  urgency,  they  cannot  be  pursued  in  the  former 
to  .so  high  a  degree  of  skill  or  in  so  wide  a  scope  as  in 
the  latter. 

The  second  great  branch  of  school  pursuits  includes 
the  practical  or  "  utilitarian "  occupations  that  lead 
directly  to  the  "  bread  and  butter  "  work  of  life.  For  the 


104        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

artisan  boy,  these  must  consist  emphatically  of  manual 
pursuits,  but  they  should  be  such  as  the  play  of  intelli- 
gence and  the  spirit  of  true  work  raise  above  the  plane 
of  brute  strength  and  mechanical  drudgery.  The  essential 
aim  of  practical  pursuits  is  to  develop  practical  skill  and 
the  practical  mind.  Our  artisans  need  limbs,  hands,  and 
fingers  that  are  delicately  and  decisively  responsive  to 
eye  and  touch,  senses  that  are  keenly  alert  and  observant  of 
all  relevant  circumstances,  and  an  intelligence  that  is  swift 
to  grasp,  ready  to  respond  with  resourceful  ingenuity,  and 
decisive  to  clinch  on  the  right  moment  for  swift  action. 
More  than  all  else  they  need  to  be  inspired  with  the  spirit 
of  true  work  which  places  work  and  workmanship  above  the 
price  of  labour.  The  practical  pursuits  for  attaining  these 
ends  are  many  and  various,  and  no  school  or  group  of 
pupils  in  a  school  should  be  confined  to  a  narrow,  restricted 
set  of  occupations.  There  should  be  wood  and  metal 
work  of  various  kinds  in  the  school  workshops.  In  the 
open  field  and  country  there  should  be  carried  on  such 
work  as  bridge-making,  field  telegraphy,  signalling,  fenc- 
ing, digging,  draining,  gardening,  and  surveying.  In 
connexion  with  these  manual  occupations  there  should 
be  given  practical  instruction  in  the  arithmetic,  geometric, 
and  drawing  arts  that  are  necessary  for  exact  work- 
manship. All  these  varied  practical  pursuits  will  discipline 
the  practical  mind,  strengthen  the  frame,  and  train  the 
body  to  a  varied  practical  skill.  As  for  the  spirit  of  true 
work,  that  is  determined  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  teacher, 
the  spirit  with  which  he  shares  in  the  work  and  leads  the 
way,  the  uplifting  force  of  his  precept  and  example,  and 
the  power  and  sympathy  with  which  he  inspires  in  the 
whole  school  community  his  own  ideal  of  work  and  work- 
manship. 

Lastly,  there  are  the  physical   pursuits  of  a  school. 
These  should  appeal  to  and  develop  those  impulses  to 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL    105 

muscular  exercise,  physical  play,  games  and  contests 
that  are  so  marked  a  feature  of  boyhood,  youth,  and  early 
manhood,  and  are  so  characteristic  of  the  virile  races  of 
temperate  climes.  The  distinctive  mark  of  all  such 
exercises  is  the  element  of  strife  that  enters  into  them. 
All  of  them  are  trials  of  strength,  of  skill,  of  wits,  and  of 
pluck.  Physical  play  rests  on  much  more  than  an 
impulse  to  physical  exercise.  Few  boys  care  to  walk 
for  walking's  sake,  but  they  will  run  for  miles  in  hare  and 
hounds,  spend  themselves  in  a  race,  play  football  and 
cricket,  fight,  box  and  wrestle  with  a  zeal  that  often 
carries  them  beyond  their  physical  powers.  It  is  evident 
that  it  is  the  element  of  physical  strife  that  appeals  to 
them.  Further,  their  favourite  contests  are  trials  of  more 
than  strength.  Brains  and  pluck,  also,  are  factors,  and 
pluck  the  most  important  of  the  three.  Boys  admire 
physical  strength,  but  they  admire  pluck  more.  In  a 
fight  the  sympathies  of  the  circle  of  boys  are  always  with 
the  smaller  and  younger  if  he  shows  pluck,  and  applause 
is  heartier  still  if  he  outmatches  his  opponent's  strength . 
by  superior  tactics. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  fighting  impulse  is  spontaneous 
in  boyhood,  and  that  its  strength  gives  games  and  con- 
tests a  place  in  boyhood  life  that  is  unique.  What  use 
is  the  educator  to  make  of  this  impulse,  and  to  what  end 
should  he  discipline  it  ?  In  the  first  place,  games  and 
contests  are  a  means  to  the  development  of  health  and 
strength.  Played  largely  in  the  open  air,  exciting  the 
heart  and  lungs  to  increased  action,  exercising  freely  the 
larger  muscles  of  the  body,  they  stimulate  the  whole 
organic  system  to  healthy  and  vigorous  growth,  fill  out 
the  muscles,  harden  the  bones,  steel  the  sinews,  and  free 
the  action  of  the  joints. 

They  also  train  bodily  skill  and  practical  judgment 
Skill  is  movement  controlled  by  the  senses.  At  first 


106        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  machinery  for  effective  movement  only  exists  in 
embryonic  form,  and  movements  are  awkward,  erratic, 
and  ineffective.  Adjustments  are  made  only  with  great 
effort,  after  repeated  trials,  and  with  many  failures. 
Practice,  however,  establishes  the  necessary  nervous  con- 
nexions between  senses  and  muscles,  so  that,  these  work- 
ing together  automatically,  movements  become  easy,  free, 
quick,  well  controlled  and  nicely  adjusted  in  space,  in 
time,  and  in  force  to  the  effect  intended.  Games  such  as 
cricket  and  football,  and  contests  such  as  boxing  and 
wrestling  give  such  a  training  in  skilled  movement — 
especially  in  the  larger  movements  of  the  body  and 
limbs — to  a  high  degree  and  with  great  variety  of  move- 
ment. Further,  such  games  and  contests  require  the 
constant  play  of  an  attentive  intelligence.  A  game  is  a 
succession  of  changes,  almost  of  surprises.  Each  moment 
requires  a  fresh  adjustment  of  aim,  of  plans,  and  of  action  ; 
and  adjustment  must  be  immediate  or  it  is  useless.  In 
this  rapid  adjustment,  alertness  of  attention,  coolness 
and  quickness  of  judgment,  and  resource  are  the  qualities 
of  attentive  intelligence  that  are  brought  out  most 
prominently. 

Lastly,  games  and  contests  are  boyhood's  discipline 
for  the  manly  virtues.  Being  struggles  for  mastery  they 
arouse  all  the  pluck,  endurance,  and  hardihood  of  youth. 
In  no  other  way  than  by  personal  strife  in  which  dangers 
have  to  be  faced,  blows  encountered,  and  fatigue  en- 
dured, can  these  virtues  be  trained.  Twentieth  century 
sentiment  may  seek  in  classroom  instruction  to  find  a 
softer  discipline  for  courage,  fortitude  and  hardihood,  and 
indeed,  instruction,  when  inspiring,  will  stimulate  ideals, 
but  unless  these  are  realized  in  manly  action  they  are  apt 
to  glow  with  a  very  unreal  light.  To  attain  the  reality  of 
virtue  the  boy  must  be  fed  on  sterner  stuff  than  duties  un- 
realized and  virtues  only  imagined.  He  must  face  danger, 


CURRICULUM  OF  THE  ARTISAN  SCHOOL    107 

encounter  pain  and  blows,  endure  fatigue,  and  feel  with- 
in himself  the  glow  of  courage,  and  the  strengthening 
power  of  fortitude  and  endurance.  So  will  courage, 
fortitude,  and  endurance  be  woven  as  lifelong  lasting 
possessions  into  the  fibre  of  his  physical  and  moral  nature. 
Games  and  contests  are  most  invaluable  means  of 
securing  to  boys  a  personal  experience  of  human  strife 
and  of  the  reality  of  courage,  pluck,  endurance,  and  self- 
control  in  a  way  that  is  naturally  attractive  to  them,  and, 
hence,  that  awakens  these  virtues  in  a  spontaneous 
manner.  There  is  nothing  artificial  about  them.  There 
is  no  need  of  pretence  or  of  compulsion.  For  that 
reason  they  are  the  more  perfectly  educative,  for  they 
enter  most  fully  and  naturally  into  the  life  of  the  boy. 
Moreover,  ;when  conducted  under  wise  supervision,  and 
where  the  school  morale  is  good,  the  fighting  spirit  is 
disciplined  in  an  atmosphere  of  honour  and  fair  play, 
and  these  virtues  are  combined  with  pluck  and  endur- 
ance to  form  the  ideal  and  the  practice  of  " sportsmanship". 
Further,  in  social  games  the  combative  element  is  modi- 
fied by  the  co-operative  spirit.  In  cricket  and  football 
the  boy  not  only  struggles  against  an  opponent,  but  he 
plays  for  his  side,  and,  as  further  incentive  to  effort,  to  his 
own  personal  prowess  is  added  the  honour  of  the  team. 
Where  co-operative  games  are  properly  conducted  he 
experiences  the  meaning  of  obedience  to  law  and 
authority,  unselfish  play,  loyalty,  and  esprit  de  corps, 
and  to  the  desire  to  beat  his  opponent  is  added  the  wish, 
in  friendly  rivalry,  to  do  more  than  his  companions  for 
the  success  of  the  team.  Games  and  contests,  then, 
should  form  part  of  the  education  of  every  boy.  With- 
out them  boyhood  is  incomplete,  and  English  boyhood 
unthinkable.  They  should  form  a  part — and  a  large 
part — of  the  education  given  in  every  school,  primary 
and  secondary,  in  primary  even  more  than  in  secondary. 


1 08        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Training  physique,  bodily  control,  coolness,  readiness 
and  alertness  in  adapting  action  to  circumstance,  pluck, 
endurance,  self-control,  spirited  strife,  and  loyal  unselfish 
co-operation,  they  form  a  preparation  for  the  Manhood 
of  Action  that  is  given  by  no  other  form  of  school  pursuit. 
Briefly  summarizing  the  pursuits  of  the  school  as  out- 
lined above,  we  obtain  : — 

(a)  Culture  Studies  :  Literature,  History,  Geography, 

Nature  Knowledge. 
(£)  Expressive  Arts  :    Language,  Drawing,  Painting, 

Modelling. 

(<:)  Practical  Occupations:  Wood  and  Metal  Work, 
Practical  Work  in  the  open  field  and  country,  and 
Practical  Arithmetic,  Geometry  and  Drawing. 
(d)  Physical  Pursuits :  (i)  Games  such  as  Cricket, 
Football,  Hockey,  Fives,  (ii)  Contests  such  as 
Running,  Jumping,  Boxing,  Fencing,  Wrestling, 
Tug-of-war. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CULTURE  STUDIES. 

IT  is  not  possible  in  one  chapter  even  to  outline  the 
modes  of  teaching  the  subjects  included  in  the  broad 
scheme  of  culture  studies  sketched  in  the  previous 
chapter  and  the  expressive  arts  associated  with  them, 
nor  is  it  desirable.  A  teacher  should  be  left  to  devise  the 
details  of  his  teaching  by  his  own  ingenuity,  provided  he 
has  grasped  the  spirit  of  his  subject  and  of  the  teaching 
of  it.  He  should,  however,  make  clear  to  himself  the 
nature  of  the  mental  and  physical  powers  that  are 
active  in  the  appreciation  and  understanding  of  each 
subject  he  teaches,  and  of  its  application  in  practical  life. 
We  must  content  ourselves,  therefore,  with  considering 
the  main  modes  in  which  the  power  of  self-learning  can 
be  fostered  and  disciplined,  and  opportunities  made  for 
reflective  study  to  find  a  free  expression  in  outward  forms 
of  activity  of  a  valuable  kind. 

The  study  of  literature,  history,  and  geography  is 
largely  dependent  on  books,  both  textbooks  and  refer- 
ence books.  Pupils,  therefore,  should  learn  to  use  books 
as  a  means  of  learning.  It  is  a  sad  reflection  on  the 
teachers  and  teaching  of  primary  schools  that  the  read- 
ing exercises  seldom  advance  beyond  reading  aloud,  and 
that  little  or  no  attention  is  given  to  a  comprehensive 
and  incisive  grasp  of  the  matter  read.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  a  pupil,  when  he  is  asked  to  give  the  substance 
of  a  passage  he  has  read  with  pronounced  elocution,  to 

109 


no        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

hesitate,  and  finally  declare  his  almost  total  ignorance  of 
what  he  has  been  reading.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
Even  with  older  people  and  educated  people,  reading  aloud 
is  a  hindrance  to  thought,  certainly  to  any  serious  reflective 
thought.  To  study  a  passage,  one  has  to  read  it  to  one- 
self with  attention  on  the  meaning,  and  not  distracted  by 
the  attempt  to  read  with  expressive  effect.  This  form 
of  reflective  silent  reading,  so  valuable  as  a  means  of 
self-learning,  has  received  scant  attention  in  primary 
schools. 

Reading  to  oneself — or  silent  reading  as  it  is  more 
frequently  called — is  open  to  several  grave  dangers. 
The  two  most  common  are  superficial  skimming  and 
reading  merely  to  absorb.  In  skimming,  as  the  words 
flit  before  the  eye,  so  the  ideas  and  images  suggested  by 
them  flit  before  the  eye  of  the  mind.  The  mind  does 
not  fasten  its  grip  on  each  essential  feature  or  aspect  as  it 
presents  itself,  and  bring  it  into  a  definite,  clear-cut  relation 
with  the  ideas  and  images  that  have  passed  before ;  and 
when  easy  flow  of  thought  is  hindered,  the  mind  is  too 
relaxed  to  unearth  an  obscure  meaning  or  lay  bare  a 
hidden  relation.  Difficulties  are  skipped,  and  conscious- 
ness— one  can  hardly  say  attention — hurries  on  to  find 
entertainment  in  more  attractive  fare. 

Such  desultory  skimming  is  the  result  of  reading  when 
there  has  been  no  incentive  to  grip  the  matter  and  try  to 
retain  it.  It  is  the  natural  outcome  of  reading  light 
literature,  and,  the  habit  growing  by  what  it  feeds  on, 
the  mind  becomes  so  enfeebled  that  it  is  incapable  of 
attending  to  serious  literature,  which  bores  because  it  is 
not  a  kaleidoscope  of  quick  changing  sensational  imagery. 
There  is  noticeable  at  present  in  our  schools  a  somewhat 
strong  tendency  to  encourage  this  superficial  skimming  by 
indulging  pupils  too  much  in  light,  fanciful,  and  adventur- 
ous literature  in  what  is  called  recreative  reading,  which 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  in 

is,  too  often,  reading  without  any  purpose  except  to  pass 
a  pleasant  hour. 

Light  reading,  like  other  forms  of  relaxation,  has  its 
place  in  life,  but  it  has  no  very  serious  place  in  school.  The 
reading  lesson  should  not  be  mere  amusement.  It  should 
hold  the  interest  of  the  pupils  and  encourage  desire,  but 
it  should  also  urge  them  to  the  task  of  thinking  with  care 
on  each  idea  presented. 

The  corrective  to  superficial  skimming  is  to  follow 
every  reading  exercise  by  a  discussion  on  the  matter  read, 
or  by  some  exercise  which  will  test  the  pupil's  insight 
into  it.  The  exercise  may  take  the  form  of  a  compre- 
hensive question  to  be  answered,  an  essay  to  be  written, 
a  problem  to  be  solved,  a  map  to  be  filled  in,  or  a  diagram 
to  be  invented  to  symbolize  what  the  chapter  has  stated 
in  words. 

Reading  to  absorb  is  another  form  of  reading  without 
thought.  It  differs  from  desultory  skimming  in  that  the 
impressions  are  retained ;  it  is  similar  to  it  in  that  there 
is  no  reflection  on  them.  The  mind  has  been  active  only 
in  retaining  ideas,  but  not  in  analysing  them.  This  form 
of  study  is  very  common  among  boys  and,  alas !  among 
teachers  too.  Where  it  is  not  due  to  a  dull  intelligence 
or  to  laziness — and  it  is  often  due  to  these  causes — it  is 
the  result  of  the  teacher  placing  an  undue  value  on  infor- 
mation, especially  on  the  information  stored  in  a  text- 
book. With  the  idea  of  filling  the  pupil's  mind  with 
information  that  may,  perchance,  turn  out  useful,  the 
teacher  sets  his  class  to  "  get  up  "  a  chapter.  They  "  get 
it  up,"  or  rather  in,  by  going  over  it  again  and  again, 
and  in  due  course  retail  it  back  to  the  teacher — with  certain 
modifications  due  to  imperfect  memory,  mistaken  in- 
telligence, or  too  active  imagination — in  much  the  same 
form  as  that  in  which  they  imbibed  it.  Such  study  is  a 
mere  travesty  of  learning.  There  is  no  value  in  heaps  of 


ii2        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

miscellaneous  facts  whether  they  be  labelled  history, 
geography,  or  science,  if  they  have  not  been  grasped  in 
relation  to  each  other,  to  general  conceptions  that  act  as 
the  organic  centres  of  mental  growth,  and  to  purposes  of 
interest  and  value  that  enter  into  life.  Cramming  the 
mind  not  only  overloads  it  with  useless  lumber,  but,  in  so 
doing,  blunts  it  for  intelligent  thinking  and  the  application 
of  knowledge  to  action.  The  aim  of  all  teaching,  whether 
conducted  orally  or  by  the  study  of  books,  should  be  to  lead 
the  pupils  to  think  intelligently  about  the  topics  presented, 
to  discriminate  between  the  important  and  unimportant, 
between  the  fundamental  and  the  merely  illustrative,  to 
grasp  ideas  in  relation  to  each  other,  to  think  conceptions 
in  relation  to  examples  of  them,  to  compare  and  contrast 
facts  so  as  to  lay  bare  underlying  principles,  and  to  bring 
all  knowledge  to  bear  on  the  realities  of  the  world  and  of 
human  purpose.  In  a  word,  intelligence  should  be  selec- 
tive and  interpretative  and  have  regard  to  what  is  im- 
portant in  the  growth  of  knowledge  and  its  application 
to  purpose,  not  merely  absorbent  of  all  and  sundry. 

Pupils,  then,  should  be  trained  to  study  a  paragraph 
sentence  by  sentence,  phrase  by  phrase,  and,  if  necessary, 
word  by  word,  so  that  each  subordinate  idea  is  grasped 
in  relation  to  the  main  thought  of  the  paragraph  and  to 
the  experience  of  the  pupils  that  throws  light  on  it.  A 
dictionary  should  be  the  well-thumbed  vade-mecum  in 
all  such  work,  and,  when  needed,  an  atlas  too.  Notes 
should  be  taken,  but  these  should  not  be  mere  excerpts 
from  the  paragraph  or  a  condensation  of  it.  They  should 
show  by  their  wording  and  arrangement  that  the  pupils 
have  grasped  the  details  in  relation  to  the  whole. 

It  will  frequently  be  necessary  for  the  teacher  to  go 
over  a  difficult  piece  with  the  pupils  as  an  example  of 
how  study  should  be  carried  on.  He  should  make  use 
of  dictionaries  and  maps  as  he  wishes  his  pupils  to  use 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  113 

them  by  th'emselves,  and  he  should  discuss  each  paragraph 
with  them  until  he  has  led  them  to  propose  some  form 
of  expression — diagram,  map,  sketch,  or  verbal  arrange- 
ment— that  makes  a  striking  and  suitable  summary  of 
the  matter  studied.  In  all  such  exercises,  however,  the 
teacher  should  remember  that  the  results  produced  by 
the  co-operative  efforts  of  class  and  teacher  are  often 
misleading,  and  may  be  no  criterion  of  the  power  of  each 
individual  pupil  to  work  independently.  The  chief  value 
of  such  co-operative  class  exercises  lies  in  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  teacher,  in  the  ideas  that  pass  from  mind 
to  mind,  and  in  the  training  provided  in  the  method  of 
doing  the  work.  The  power  of  self-study  can  be  ulti- 
mately gained  only  by  independent  individual  effort,  com- 
bined with  insistent  and  persistent  criticism  and  correction. 

The  serious  study  of  literature,  history,  and  geography 
requires  a  room  fitted  up  as  a  library  and  reading-room. 
The  room  should  be  provided  with  a  varied  assortment 
of  good  literature — prose  and  poetry — and  with  reference 
books  and  atlases  for  the  study  of  history  and  geography. 
The  books  selected  for  the  library  should,  naturally,  be 
suited  to  the  tastes  and  the  intelligence  of  boys. 

The  library  is  a  very  necessary  piece  of  equipment. 
It  is  not  a  luxury.  It  is  to  the  study  of  literature,  history, 
and  geography  what  the  workshop  is  to  handicrafts,  and 
the  laboratory  to  the  study  of  natural  science.  With- 
out a  library,  how  are  the  pupils  to  cultivate  any  interest 
in  books  and  power  of  learning  from  them?  How  else 
are  they  to  be  taken  beyond  the  sterile  field  of  the 
class  textbook?  But  someone  asks :  "Would  you  turn 
the  pupils  into  the  library  to  read  what  they  like?" 
Certainly  not.  Pupils  are  not  allowed  to  run  wild  in  a 
workshop  or  in  a  laboratory.  In  these  portions  of  the 
school  they  are  given  definite  tasks  to  perform  and 
inquiries  to  pursue.  They  work  according  to  instructions, 


H4        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

and  a  master  is  present  to  inspire  a  spirit  of  work  and  to 
help  those  in  difficulties.  A  similar  method  should  be 
pursued  in  the  use  of  a  school  library  and  reading-room. 
Any  other  form  of  conducting  library  work  would  be 
fatal.  It  is  only  too  certain  that  desultory  and  promis- 
cuous reading  would  not  promote  but  hinder  the  develop- 
ment of  a  real  power  of  self-study. 

There  is,  of  course,  no  one  set  mode  of  conducting  library 
study  with  boys.  Teachers  should  use  their  ingenuity  in 
inventing  a  variety  of  ways  by  which  pupils  can  exercise 
their  initiative  in  inquiry.  Whatever  be  the  various  plans 
adopted,  each  should  encourage  the  pupils  to  independent 
work  in  consulting  authorities,  source  books  in  history  and 
geography,  atlases  and  the  like.  As  long  as  the  pupils  are 
disciplined  to  some  kind  of  independent  study,  and  trained 
to  use  in  an  intelligent  way  books  other  than  textbooks, 
the  precise  details  of  the  method  matter  little.  These 
should  be  determined  by  the  ability  of  the  boys,  the 
peculiar  genius  of  the  teacher,  and,  of  course,  the  supply 
of  books  available. 

At  the  same  time  means  should  be  devised  for  pre- 
venting desultory,  aimless  reading.  There  should  be  no 
carte  blanche  to  roam  at  large  over  a  limitless  field  and 
dip  casually  into  a  large  number  of  books.  In  library 
study  the  pupils  should  always  be  engaged  in  pursuing 
some  definite  and  more  or  less  restricted  inquiry.  The 
topics  chosen  should  arise  out  of  the  class  teaching,  and 
should  supplement  it.  The  teacher  should  select  the 
topic  for  each  pupil  or  group  of  pupils,  and  should  suggest 
the  general  lines  for  pursuing  the  inquiries  and  the 
reference  books  to  be  consulted.  Rough  notes  should, 
of  course,  be  taken  during  the  reading.  These  should  be 
worked  up  afterwards  into  essay  form  and  illustrated  by 
diagrams,  sketches,  maps,  and  any  pictures  the  pupil  may 
be  able  to  cull  from  magazines  and  similar  sources. 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  115 

Finally,  the  results  accomplished  by  a  class  of  pupils 
working  in  this  way  should  be  brought  into  definite 
relation  with  the  general  class  work  in  the  subject,  and 
made  the  basis  for  some  class  lessons  in  which  the  matter 
obtained  is  systematically  organized  and  learnt  by  the 
whole  class. 

As  an  example  of  the  method  of  pursuing  a  topic  by 
the  independent  study  of  reference  books,  let  us  suppose 
a  class  is  beginning  the  consideration  of  the  geography  of 
India,  and  learning  some  of  it  on  the  lines  suggested 
above.  The  first  lesson  should  be  a  class  lesson  to 
examine  the  relief  of  India  in  relation  to  the  surround- 
ing continent.  An  orographic  map  of  Asia  is  indispens- 
able for  this  purpose.  The  examination  should  be 
conducted  with  a  view  not  so  much  to  learning  facts 
about  the  geographical  areas  into  which  India  is  seen  to 
be  divided,  as  to  opening  up  a  number  of  fields  of  inquiry. 
Let  us  confine  our  attention  to  the  mountain  barriers  of 
the  North  and  North- West.  The  inquiries  that  might, 
by  tactful  questioning,  be  unfolded  are : — 

1.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  North  and  North-Western 
Highlands,  their  extent,  the  river  drainage  arising  from 
them,  the  erosive  action  of  the  rivers,  and  the  consequences 
of  this  action  ? 

2.  What  kind   of   frontiers    do   these    barriers    make, 
what  are  the  weak  positions  in  them,  and  what  fortresses, 
railways   and   roads  have    been    constructed    to  defend 
them? 

3.  What  are  the  climatic  conditions  and  vegetation  of 
the  countries  beyond  the  barriers,  and  how  do  they  differ 
from  those  of  the  Indo-Gangetic  plain  ? 

4.  How  will   the  climatic  conditions    and  vegetation 
affect   the    occupations    and    social  organization    of  the 
peoples  inhabiting  these  regions? 

5.  What  trade  and  trade  routes  are  there  across  these 


ii6        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

barriers  to  Western  Asia  and  Europe,  and  what  are  the 
terminal  and  intermediate  trade  towns  ? 

These  inquiries  having  been  tabulated,  the  teacher 
apportions  them  amongst  the  class,  and  to  each  pupil — 
or  rather  group  of  pupils — he  gives  general  directions  as 
to  the  books  to  consult,  the  chapters  and  maps  to  study, 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  results  of  the  work  should 
be  expressed  in  summarized  notes,  maps,  and  sketches. 
The  pupils  then  spend  a  number  of  lessons  in  the  geo- 
graphy room,  each  group  of  pupils  working  out  its  allotted 
problem.  The  teacher  is  present  so  that  he  may  be  con- 
sulted by  any  pupil  who  needs  advice  or  is  in  a  difficulty, 
and  he  should  pass  round  from  group  to  group  to  see  how 
the  inquiries  are  progressing,  and  to  stimulate  initiative 
and  ingenuity  by  leading  questions.  At  the  end  each 
group  condenses  its  results  into  a  summary,  illustrated  by 
large  coloured  maps,  sketches,  and  pictures,  if  any  have 
been  procured.  A  class  meeting  follows  to  bring  to- 
gether for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  class  the  results  of 
the  many  inquiries  and  to  weave  them  into  a  coherent 
system  of  knowledge.  Each  inquiry  is  dealt  with  in  turn. 
A  selected  pupil  from  the  group  reads  his  summary  and 
explains  it  by  reference  to  his  large  maps,  sketches,  and 
pictures  which  are  exhibited  to  the  class.  The  teacher 
then  encourages  pupils  in  other  groups  to  ask  questions 
of  the  group  who  worked  out  the  topic,  and  he  himself 
questions  the  group  and  discusses  the  topic  with  the 
whole  class  so  as  to  bring  out  essentials.  The  other 
problems  are  then  dealt  with  in  a  similar  way.  Finally, 
the  whole  class  spends  a  lesson  in  making  suitable 
summaries  of  the  whole  set  of  inquiries,  and  drawing 
suitable  maps  and  sketches  to  illustrate  them. 

To  stimulate  the  pupils  to  a  high  standard  of  work, 
and  to  encourage  them  to  question  and  cross-question 
each  other,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  introduce  group  rivalry. 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  117 

Marks  should  be  awarded  for  the  most  initiative,  the 
most  suggestive  summary,  the  best  maps,  etc.  Marks, 
too,  could  be  awarded  for  questions  and  answers  in  the 
combined  class  work  at  the  end,  a  mark  being  given  to 
the  questioned  for  every  question  successfully  answered, 
and  to  the  questioners  for  every  question  not  successfully 
answered.  By  some  such  means,  rivalry  may  become 
very  keen,  and  the  pupils  may  reach  a  high  standard  in 
cross-questioning  each  other,  a  process  which  is  very  con- 
ducive to  intelligent  thinking.  It  is  a  good  plan,  too, 
to  bind  together  all  the  summaries,  maps,  sketches,  etc., 
that  have  been  made  in  connexion  with  the  topics 
studied,  and  to  pass  them  round  the  class  for  examina- 
tion. 

One  of  the  best  tests  of  the  training  the  school  is 
giving  in  self-education  is  the  interest  the  pupils  take  in 
various  kindred  pursuits  out  of  school.  Does  the  train- 
ing in  literature  lead  the  pupils  to  read  at  home?  Does 
the  teaching  in  history  and  geography  induce  the  pupils 
to  take  up  the  study  of  local  history  and  geography?  If 
not,  then  the  school  is  developing  an  interest,  if  it  develops 
interest  at  all,  of  an  artificial  kind  that  has  its  roots  in 
classroom  conditions  and  only  blossoms  into  classroom 
activities  that  will  in  all  probability  come  to  an  end  when 
the  pupil  enters  the  wider  world  after  school.  It  often 
happens,  however,  that,  even  when  the  school  training  is 
most  stimulating,  the  home  influences  are  not  conducive 
to  out-of-school  study.  It  behoves  the  school,  therefore, 
to  do  something  more  than  to  leave  the  out-of-school 
studies  to  chance. 

The  school  should,  as  we  have  mentioned  before,  pro- 
vide an  organization  for  stimulating  and  directing  out-of- 
school  studies  in  a  definite  way.  It  would  not  be  well, 
though,  to  make  them  compulsory.  Rather  should  the 
school  create  the  opportunity,  initiate  and  maintain  the 


u8        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

organizations  for  out-of-school  pursuits,  and  do  all  it  can 
by  influence,  example,  and  school  tone  to  bring  its  pupils 
voluntarily  to  make  use  of  them. 

The  most  suitable  organizations  for  developing  and 
directing  out-of-school  interests  we  have  seen  to  be  school 
societies.  For  literature,  a  reading  circle  should  be 
formed  to  read  and  discuss  boys'  fiction  and,  sometimes, 
even  more  serious  works  than  fiction.  It  should  meet 
once  a  week  during  the  winter  months.  For  out-of- 
school  geography,  a  society  should  be  formed  to  keep 
records  of  the  local  weather  to  make  collections  of  local 
rocks,  and  to  do  some  local  surveying.  Local  historical 
buildings  form  most  attractive  material  for  an  historical 
society  to  study.  In  almost  every  district  there  are  old 
houses,  a  mediaeval  church,  abbey  or  castle,  old  place 
and  street  names,  and  documents  relating  to  buildings, 
people,  land  and  events.  A  good  deal  of  original  work 
of  a  simple  character  can  be  done  by  boys  of  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  years  if  once  they  are  made  keen. 
An  inspiring  teacher  who  knows  how  much  to  do  for 
them  and  how  much  to  leave  to  their  own  initiative, 
how  much  to  tell  and  how  much  to  suggest,  is  a  god- 
send in  giving  life  and  soul  to  a  school  society. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  work  done  by  these 
school  societies  can  be  of  any  very  high  order.  After 
all  they  are  semi-recreative.  Teachers  must  be  content 
if  they  create  an  interest,  and  begin  the  habit  of  voluntary 
study.  Often  the  interest  of  the  pupils  will  need  to  be 
maintained  by  more  lively  means  than  study.  Scenes 
from  plays  can  be  learnt  and  acted  in  costume.  An 
historical  pageant  can  be  prepared  and  exhibited. 
Prizes  for  collections  of  rocks,  plants,  pictures,  maps, 
sketches,  etc.,  will  stimulate  competition.  An  annual 
occasion  can  be  instituted  for  exhibiting  the  collections 
and  the  work  done,  and  for  performing  little  plays,  and 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  119 

exhibiting  pageantry  and  historical  tableaux.  This 
annual  or  bi-annual  event  will  be  an  opportunity  for 
bringing  parents  into  touch  with  the  school  and  its 
societies,  and  will  have  the  effect  in  many  cases  of  supple- 
menting the  school  stimulus  by  that  of  the  home. 
Finally,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  societies  will 
languish  and  die,  or  maintain  but  a  moribund  existence, 
unless  the  teachers  encourage  them  with  their  presence. 
The  formal  school  manner  of  the  teacher  should  give 
place  to  a  more  friendly,  free,  and  sociable  tone.  He 
should  put  the  pupils  at  their  ease  so  that  they  will  talk 
and  discuss  freely.  He  should  suggest  modes  of  bring- 
ing variety  into  the  proceedings,  and  every  now  and  then 
work  up  occasional  excitement  by  some  special  effort. 

The  above  are  some  of  the  more  important  ways  by 
which  self-learning  in  literature,  history,  and  geography 
may,  to  some  extent,  be  encouraged  with  pupils  over 
twelve  years.  There  remains  for  us  now  to  consider 
modes  in  which  the  knowledge  learnt  in  these  subjects 
can  find  expression  in  outward  forms,  forms  that  will  be 
of  value  in  cultivating  a  higher  appreciation  of  truth  and 
beauty  and  in  developing  a  power  for  practical  action. 

Much  ingenuity  has  been  expended  of  late  in  suggest- 
ing various  ways  by  which  the  literature  and  history 
taught  in  school  can  be  expressed  in  handwork  and  in 
action.  In  many  schools  pupils  of  a  considerable  age 
may  be  seen  making — with  cardboard,  straw,  and  other 
light  materials — imitation  miniature  tapestry,  coracles, 
tents,  armour,  weapons,  and  other  things  mentioned  in 
history  and  in  fiction.  Also  scenes  from  literature  and 
history  are  dramatized  extempore  by  the  pupils.  After 
a  story  has  been  taught  or  read,  selected  pupils  are  re- 
quired to  come  in  front  of  the  class  and  act  the  scene 
with  words,  gesture,  and  action  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion, their  imaginations  clothing  the  prosaic  desks  and 


120        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

chairs  of  the  classroom  with  all  the  glorious  trappings 
of  history  and  romance. 

In  support  of  such  dramatization,  it  is  urged  that  not 
only  do  the  actors  realize  in  a  more  vivid  and  personal 
way  the  experiences  and  feelings  of  the  characters,  but 
that  the  onlookers,  too,  share  in  the  fuller  appreciation. 
Further,  the  advocates  of  these  methods  point  to  the 
value  of  the  action  songs,  action  recitations  and  story 
games  of  the  kindergarten  as  a  reason  for  their  use  with 
older  children.  Some  even  go  so  far  as  to  hold  that  the 
methods  of  teaching  in  the  upper  school  should  be  organ- 
ized more  than  they  are  on  kindergarten  principles.  To 
any  such  suggestion  we  cannot  but  offer  a  definite  and 
absolute  negative.  Whatever  may  be  said  for  dramatiza- 
tion and  handwork,  in  themselves,  in  connexion  with 
literature  and  history  nothing  whatever  can  be  advanced 
that  is  psychologically  sound  in  favour  of  the  introduction 
of  kindergarten  methods  into  the  upper  school.  The 
whole  aims  and  methods  of  teaching  in  the  upper  school 
should  be  different  from  those  of  the  kindergarten,  since 
the  whole  outlook  of  the  older  pupils  on  knowledge,  on 
the  world,  and  on  life  is  radically  different  from  that  of 
infants.  The  infant's  mental  horizon  is  limited  by  his 
sensations,  and  his  activity  by  his  spontaneous  impulses. 
He  cannot  entertain  purposes  beyond  the  present  and 
very  immediate  future.  His  outlook  is  wholly  and  un- 
consciously objective,  since  the  instinct  to  self-conscious- 
ness is  as  yet  unborn.  The  older  boy,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  entered  a  stage  of  development  in  which  his 
consciousness  of  himself  and  of  his  relations  to  others 
and  to  the  world,  is  determining  in  a  marked  way  his 
mental  development.  He  has  ideas  about  his  future 
career.  His  imagination,  unlike  the  infant's,  is  con- 
trolled by  his  perception  of  realities.  In  everything  that 
determines  his  actions  and  his  attitude  to  knowledge,  to 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  121 

people,  to  work  and  to  life,  he  is  a  totally  different  being 
from  the  infant.  He  is  on  the  threshold  of  life  with  the 
door  to  independent  thought  and  action  opening  wider 
day  by  day.  The  infant  and  child  are,  as  yet,  quite 
content  to  play  in  their  little  enclosed  garden,  happy 
with  their  sensations  and  their  fancies,  and  oblivious  of 
the  stern  realities  of  the  world  and  the  future. 

It  follows,  then,  that  certain  forms  of  play  which  make 
the  infant  happy,  and  are  even  good  fun  to  the  small 
boy  if  his  elders  are  far  away,  appear  ridiculous  and 
contemptible  to  the  older  boy.  The  infant  can,  oblivious 
of  realities,  play  at  being  a  bird,  an  animal,  or  a  tree  ; 
the  small  boy  finds  great  fun — though  whether  any  in- 
struction is  doubtful — in  pretending  to  be  King  Alfred 
burning  the  cakes.  The  older  boy  will  only  play  at 
something  serious,  or  when  realities  take  the  place  of 
stage  properties.  As  a  boy  scout  he  will  play  at  soldiers, 
but  the  drill  must  be  serious  drill,  the  patrolling  real 
patrolling,  and  there  must  be  a  real  camp,  real  woods  and 
fields.  He  will  play  at  Robinson  Crusoe,  but  he  must 
have  a  real  island,  real  water,  and  real  rafts.  He  has  no 
sympathy  with  the  foolishness  of  making  believe  an  up- 
turned table  on  the  nursery  floor  is  a  raft,  or  pretending 
to  be  King  Charles  when  a  paper  crown,  a  cardboard  axe, 
and  the  classroom  chair  are  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
reality  of  that  memorable  thirtieth  of  January. 

To  introduce  the  kindergarten  spirit  into  the  upper 
school  would  not  only  be  foolish,  but  it  would  be  actually 
harmful.  Its  effect  would  be  to  arrest  development  and 
not  to  assist  it,  to  keep  the  boy  shackled  to  the  ways  of 
infancy  when  education  should  be  preparing  him  to  face 
the  world  with  a  grip  on  the  realities  of  life.  A  boy  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  years  should  not  be  playing  at  school- 
ing. His  work  should  be  serious  work.  He  should  not 
be  amusing  himself  with  phantoms  of  tinsel  but  honestly 


122        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

endeavouring  to  get  to  the  heart  of  things,  grappling 
with  ideas,  and  discovering  their  application  to  the  im- 
portant purposes  of  life. 

The  forms  of  outward  expression,  therefore,  to  be  en- 
couraged in  the  upper  school  should  have  value  in  aid- 
ing the  pupil  to  grasp  the  inner  meaning  of  a  thing  and 
to  appreciate  all  that  is  true  and  beautiful  in  it,  as  well  as 
all  that  is  practical  and  useful  The  expression,  too, 
should  reach  a  sufficiently  high  standard  of  excellence  as 
a  representation  either  of  truth  or  of  beauty.  Expression 
is  art,  and  the  boy  of  the  upper  school  is  old  enough  to 
learn  that  art  is  not  amusing  play,  but  that  pervading  it 
should  be  the  spirit  of  true  work  and  perfect  workmanship. 

By  either  of  these  criteria  extempore  dramatization  and 
the  making  of  paltry  imitations  of  things  stand  con- 
demned. They  give  only  the  outer  semblance  of  reality  ; 
the  inner  meaning  of  history  and  literature  is  warped  and 
distorted  by  them  rather  than  revealed.  As  presenta- 
tions of  truth  and  beauty,  they  fall  far  short  of  anything 
that  should  be  permitted  outside  the  nursery  and  the 
play-room. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  acting  of  scenes  from  such 
plays  as  " Julius  Caesar,"  "Richard  the  Third,'1  and  the 
"  Merchant  of  Venice,"  or  the  presentation  of  a  dramatized 
version  of  a  story  that  is  true  in  spirit  and  beautiful  in 
form,  is  not  open  to  the  above  objections.  These  are  real 
literature.  They  are  art  of  the  highest  kind.  To  train  a 
pupil  to  act  such  scenes  is  on  the  same  high  level  as 
training  him  to  paint  a  beautiful  picture  or  model  a  beauti- 
ful vase.  It  helps  to  bring  him  into  that  inner  chamber 
wherein  dwells  the  spirit  of  the  beautiful.  But  between 
this  and  extempore  dramatization  of  historical  scenes 
there  is  fixed  a  gulf  as  wide  as  that  between  a  child 
amusing  itself  in  making  mud  pies  and  a  pupil  lovingly 
trying  to  model  a  Greek  vase. 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  123 

Acting,  therefore,  is  educative  as  all  real  art  is  edu- 
cative ;  but  it  must  be  real  art,  and  not  the  art  of  the 
nursery.  And  it  must  be  prepared  for  in  an  understand- 
ing and  loving  way.  The  play  or  the  historic  pageant 
should  be  studied,  and  the  pupils  should  enter  with 
sympathy  into  the  personality  of  the  characters  and  the 
idea  the  play  or  pageant  expresses.  In  their  presenta- 
tion of  it  the  pupils  should  aim  at  a  standard  of  elocution 
and  of  expressive  gesture  and  action  that  demand  not 
only  real  feeling  and  deep  understanding,  but  consider- 
able training  in  these  expressive  arts. 

As  with  acting,  so  with  modelling  and  needlework ; 
they  are  educative  when  a  high  standard  of  art  is  held. 
The  careful  and  painstaking  attempt  to  make  a  piece  of 
tapestry  after  a  mediaeval  model  or  to  mould  a  vase  after 
a  Roman  design  is  highly  valuable,  not,  however,  be- 
cause these  are  historical  illustrations,  but  because  they 
are  things  of  beauty.  In  the  same  way  the  drawing  and 
painting  of  arms  and  armour,  heraldry,  Old  English 
architecture  of  church,  abbey,  castle,  or  manor,  are  valu- 
able because  they  are  forms  of  the  expression  of  truth, 
and  a  high  standard  of  workmanship  can  be  exacted. 
Shoddy  imitations  in  cardboard  and  straw  in  the  case  of 
the  older  pupils  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned. 

There  is  another  form  of  expression  that  is  appropriate 
to  both  literature  and  history,  and  that  is  music.  Un- 
fortunately, many  a  good  melody  is  wasted  on  foolish 
words,  and  many  a  fine  poem  is  ruined  by  sorry  jingle. 
But  when  good  music  is  wedded  to  good  verse,  the  pupils 
are  uplifted  to  a  more  exalted  and  intense  appreciation 
either  in  hearing  it  or  in  giving  a  fine  rendering  of  it. 
Similarly,  patriotic  feeling  is  intensified  by  the  singing 
of  patriotic  songs.  No  boy  can  sing  "  Hearts  of  Oak  "  or 
join  in  a  spirited  rendering  of  "  Rule,  Britannia  "  without 
feeling  within  himself  the  English  spirit  stir  more  proudly 


124        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

and  stoutly,  and,  while  under  that  inspiration,  being 
more  ready  to  sacrifice  himself  in  the  service  of  his 
country. 

The  forms  of  expression  that  we  have  considered  so 
far  have  all  been  symbolic.  They  have  had  for  their  end 
the  representation  of  truth  and  beauty.  It  is  important, 
however,  to  seek  some  ways  by  which  literature  and 
history  can  in  school  be  brought  into  touch  with  prac- 
tical life  in  some  form  of  practical  action.  There  are 
no  distinct  and  definite  ways  by  which  the  thought 
of  literature  finds  such  expression.  The  influence  of 
literature  should  be  on  life  as  a  whole.  Its  mark  should 
be  on  all  thought,  feeling  and  conduct,  refining  and  en- 
nobling them.  History,  however,  appeals  to  a  more 
limited  set  of  impulses  and  to  a  narrower  part  of  life.  Its 
aim,  as  we  have  shown,  is  to  strengthen  the  impulses  to 
corporate  life  and  centre  them  round  the  idea  of  national- 
ity. As  has  been  already  suggested,  symbolism  should 
be  used  to  materialize  and  bring  to  a  point  the  patriotic 
impulses.  On  occasions  of  national  rejoicing  or  mourn- 
ing, saluting  the  Flag,  singing  the  national  anthem,  joining 
in  a  prayer  for  King  and  country  should  be  solemn  and 
serious  rites.  Much,  too,  is  to  be  said  for  the  institution 
of  national  days  when  some  important  aspect  of  national 
life  can  be  made  to  appeal  to  the  imaginations  of  the 
pupils  in  an  emphatic  and  solemn  way.  Christianity  has 
its  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsunday,  and  by  means  of 
them  and  other  feast  and  fast  days  the  fundamental  ideas 
and  sentiments  of  Christianity  have  become  woven  into 
the  texture  of  the  people's  habits  and  customs.  As  long 
as  Christmas  day  shall  last,  the  memory  of  Christ's  birth 
can  never  die.  If  the  Church  gains  so  much  from  its 
Christian  days,  as  much  would  the  nation  gain  from 
national  days. 

There  are  at  least  four   aspects  of  national  life  that 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  125 

merit  a  special  occasion,  and  each  of  them  should  be 
associated  with  some  national  ideal.  These  are :  The 
Empire,  and  the  unity  of  our  race  ;  Our  Country,  and 
national  service ;  Parliament,  and  freedom  ;  Municipality, 
and  healthy  and  prosperous  citizens  in  healthy  and  prosper- 
ous towns.  There  would  be  a  great  strengthening  of 
national  feeling  among  the  youth  of  the  nation  if  four 
such  national  days  were  used  to  inspire  our  pupils  with 
the  ideals  of  our  race  and  country,  and  to  stir  their  hearts 
with  the  deeds  of  those  great  Englishmen  who  have 
given  their  lives  nobly  in  the  service  of  empire,  country, 
freedom,  and  humanity.  Our  great  heritage  in  noble 
deeds  and  noble  lives  would  then  be  brought  before 
every  pupil  every  year,  on  occasions  and  in  a  manner  that 
would  fill  them  with  reverence  for  their  country's  past 
and  pride  in  the  name  of  Englishman. 

Such  a  form  of  outward  expression  is  still  of  the  nature 
of  symbolism.  It  differs  from  the  modes  previously 
discussed  in  that  it  appeals  directly  to  the  national  idea 
and  to  corporate  feelings,  arid  stimulates  an  ideal  of 
national  service.  We  are  still  left  to  discover  some  form 
of  practical  action  in  which  boys  can  express  the  national 
feeling  and  ideals  that  are  growing  within  them.  What- 
ever form  it  takes,  it  should  be  based  on  corporate 
instincts ;  it  should  raise  these  instincts  to  the  national 
plane ;  it  should  make  an  appeal  for  service.  Of  all  the 
organizations  that  have  been  instituted  for  boys  and 
youths,  none  seems  to  fulfil  these  conditions  so  admirably 
as  the  national  organization  of  Boy  Scouts.  Its  ideals 
are  king  and  country,  manliness  and  duty ;  and  its 
methods  are  most  practical. 

To  propose  to  institute  a  corps  of  Boy  Scouts  in  con- 
nexion with  every  school  may  to  some  seem  foolish, 
to  others  chimerical.  To  those,  however,  who  desire 
national  sentiment  to  be  something  more  than  a  vapid 


126        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

sentimentality,  and  who  realize  that  verbal  instruction 
dissociated  from  practical  duties  is  a  hollow  mockery, 
such  a  proposal  seems  the  only  practical  way  of  encourag- 
ing a  patriotism  that  will  wear.  If  the  pupils  from  the 
nation's  schools  were  bound  together  in  a  national  move- 
ment, they  would  feel  that  they  belonged  to  a  corporate 
body  national  in  its  width,  they  would  imbibe  from  its 
spirit  the  ideals  of  patriotism  and  service,  and  they  would 
be  led  to  strive  in  many  practical  ways  to  "  be  ready  " 
for  the  duties  of  manhood  and  citizenship. 

An  examination  of  the  organization  of  the  Boy  Scouts 
further  reveals  the  fact  that  its  founder  is  a  thoroughly 
practical  educationist.  He  appeals  to  every  great  group 
of  the  spontaneous  instincts  of  boyhood,  and  seeks  to 
discipline  them  for  national  service.  He  uses  the  cor- 
porate instinct  by  making  the  patrol  the  unit,  but  he 
keeps  its  numbers  small  so  that  the  ties  of  membership 
shall  be  real  and  strong.  Each  patrol  trains  and  works 
independently,  in  order  that  the  group  consciousness  may 
be  intensified,  but  on  special  occasions  many  patrols 
combine  for  concerted  or  competitive  action  so  that  all 
realize  they  are  part  of  a  great  brotherhood.  He  places 
the  older  boys  in  positions  of  trust  that  the  sense  of 
responsibility  may  grow  in  them,  but,  though  obedience 
is  demanded  from  the  younger,  each  has  his  own 
peculiar  office  and  duty  in  the  patrol  that  he  may  be 
stimulated  by  pride  in  holding  a  special  post.  He  uses 
rivalry  in  individual  and  social  games  and  contests  to 
encourage  keen  initiative,  but  he  often  requires  scouts  to 
act  independently  to  train  them  in  self-reliant  action. 
He  appeals  to  the  boyish  ideals  of  romance  and  adven- 
ture, but,  just  as  the  mediaeval  church  disciplined  the 
feudal  spirit  of  war  and  adventure  to  the  heights  of 
knightly  chivalry,  he,  too,  disciplines  these  impulses  to 
thoughtfulness  for  others,  self-denial  and  honour,  and  so 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  127 

weaves  a  glamour  of  romance  around  the  commonplace 
virtues.  He  does  not  disdain  secret  signs,  badges, 
mottoes,  flags,  ceremonies,  and  symbolism  of  all  kinds, 
for  he  knows  they  are  dear  to  the  heart  of  every  boy, 
and  serve  to  give  a  definite  outward  form  to  inner  senti- 
ments. Hi  every  way  he  makes  his  training  an  appeal 
to  the  spontaneous  impulses,  interests,  and  ideals  of  youth 
and,  setting  one  group  of  impulses  against  another,  he 
disciplines  them  in  a  self-controlled,  evenly-balanced  and 
manly  mould. 

So  educationally  sound  is  the  whole  organization  and 
mode  of  training  that,  could  each  school  in  the  country 
form  its  own  corps  of  Boy  Scouts  linked  up  in  a  national 
movement,  the  solidarity  of  future  national  sentiment 
would  be  assured.  The  Boy  Scouts  would  be  the  boys 
of  the  nation  organized  to  train  themselves  to  be  the  men 
of  the  nation.  Whether  such  an  ideal  will  ever  be 
realized  it  is  hard  to  say,  but  if  a  strong,  disciplined, 
manly  sentiment  of  nationality,  that  will  find  an  outlet  in 
national  service,  is  ever  to  be  developed,  it  will  only  be 
through  such  an  organization  and  training  as  those  of  the 
Boy  Scouts. 

Geography,  dealing  more  with  physical  conditions  than 
with  spiritual  and  social  things,  lends  itself  readily  to 
forms  of  outward  action  and  expression.  There  is  always 
at  hand  a  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  the  relief,  drain- 
age, climate,  vegetation,  geology,  population,  and  indus- 
tries of  which  can  be  investigated  at  first  hand,  and  the 
resulting  knowledge  expressed  in  model,  map,  or  other 
graphical  form.  The  exercises  of  practical  geography, 
then,  will  consist  in  surveying,  measuring  heights  and 
distances,  plane  tabling,  map  and  model  making,  regular 
daily  observations  on  prevailing  winds,  rainfall,  tempera- 
ture and  barometric  pressure,  investigations  into  the  fall 
of  a  stream,  its  rate  of  flow,  the  variation  in  its  current 


128        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

due  to  rocks,  banks  and  obstructions,  the  effect  of  eddies, 
the  amount  of  matter  carried  in  suspension  and  similar 
problems,  inquiries  into  the  effect  of  shelter,  slope,  and 
soil  on  the  local  distribution  of  plants,  and  the  examina- 
tion of  the  geological  strata  of  the  district  in  railway 
cuttings,  quarries,  and  exposed  hill-sides.  Such  practical 
work  will  occupy  a  good  deal  of  time  in  field  work,  and 
in  mapping,  modelling,  and  graphical  expression  in  the 
geography  workroom. 

The  use  of  maps  is  most  important  in  the  teaching 
of  geography.  Maps  are  the  language  of  geography, 
and  if  pupils  are  to  learn  about  foreign  countries  at 
second-hand,  that  language  should  be  so  developed  as 
to  express  the  greatest  variety  of  geographical  meaning. 
The  old-fashioned  political  map,  useful  for  locating  posi- 
tion, has  too  small  a  geographical  vocabulary  to  be  of 
much  use  in  teaching  anything  but  position.  A  series  of 
maps  representing  all  the  main  geographical  conditions  of 
each  country  is  indispensable.  The  series  should  include 
an  orographic  map  showing  relief  in  colour,  maps  re- 
spectively for  rainfall  and  winds,  temperature,  natural 
regions,  vegetable  products  and  agricultural  and  pastoral 
industries,  mineral  resources  and  manufactures,  density 
of  population,  and  communications.  These  maps  express 
to  the  eye  by  geographical  symbolism  the  varied  geo- 
graphical conditions  of  a  country,  and  much  of  the 
learning  of  geography  should  consist  in  the  intelligent 
interpretation  of  the  various  maps,  and  the  grasping  of 
them  in  relation  to  each  other.  Pupils  should  be  trained 
not  only  to  read  this  map  language,  but  also  to  write  it 
with  the  ease  and  confidence  that  only  comes  from 
practice.  Hence,  the  geography  notebooks  of  the  pupils 
should  consist  mainly  of  series  of  maps  variously  coloured 
and  labelled,  with  the  briefest  possible  verbal  summaries 
placed  alongside. 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  129 

For  a  pupil  to  grasp  with  any  confidence  the  way  a 
contour  (or  orographic)  map  expresses  the  relief  of  a 
country,  he  should  have  made  a  model  from  such  a  map. 
Many  teachers  advocate  the  rapid  modelling  by  the 
pupils  of  every  country  taught.  This  is  neither  necessary 
nor  desirable.  Every  time  a  child  reads  a  word  in  a 
book  it  is  not  necessary  to  show  to  him  the  thing,  action, 
quality,  or  relation  for  which  the  word  stands.  He  must 
learn  to  think  of  things  by  means  of  words  without  the 
things  being  present.  So,  too,  with  the  relief  of  a 
country.  After  he  has  once  become  familiar  with  the 
meaning  of  a  contour  map,  it  is  unnecessary  and  unde- 
sirable that  he  should  use  the  further  medium  of  a  model. 
It  is  curious  that  it  does  not  occur  to  such  teachers 
when  they  are  using  rainfall,  temperature,  and  vegeta- 
tion maps,  to  materialize  these  by  producing  samples  of 
rainfall,  temperature,  and  vegetation.  In  these  cases  they 
are  content  to  rely  on  memory  and  imagination. 

In  the  modelling  by  the  pupils  of  the  relief  of  a  country 
the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to  attain  a  high 
standard  of  truth.  Many  of  the  reliefs  modelled  by 
pupils,  especially  those  smaller  ones  modelled  with  flour 
and  salt  on  cardboard,  give  so  false  an  impression  that 
nothing  but  harm  can  result  from  making  and  using 
them.  The  author  can  vividly  recall  one  such  model 
shown  him  by  a  proud  teacher  as  a  specimen  of  the 
practical  work  in  geography  of  his  school.  The  model 
was  of  the  surface  of  India.  The  Himalayas  and  the 
mountains  of  the  Norths-West  Frontier  were  represented 
as  single  high  ridges  rising  from  a  uniformly  level  plain. 
The  Indus  rose  behind  the  Himalayan  ridge  at  the  same 
level  as  it  flowed  into  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  Deccan 
was  a  flat  plain  at  sea  level,  bordered  by  an  unbroken 
ridge  to  the  west,  and  a  broken  one  to  the  east.  The 
rivers  of  the  Deccan,  according  to  the  model,  must  have 

9 


130        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

flowed  slowly  and  uninterruptedly  across  the  intervening 
flat  country.  There  was  no  single  feature,  except  per- 
haps the  shape  of  the  coast-line,  that  was  not  as  false 
as  false  could  be.  It  was  a  perfect  example  of  what 
pupils  should  not  be  permitted  to  do. 

The  most  valuable  exercise  in  modelling  is  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  relief  of  a  country  with  sheets  of  thick 
cardboard,  cut  with  a  fret-saw  to  the  shape  of  successive 
contours.  The  work  requires  close  attention  and  careful 
manipulation  to  secure  accuracy,  and  takes  many  hours 
to  complete.  The  construction  of  one,  therefore,  should 
be  divided  among  a  number  of  pupils.  In  doing  this 
work  the  pupils  will  gain  so  thorough  and  intimate  a 
grasp  of  how  a  contour  map  expresses  relief  that  there 
will  be  little  need  for  them  to  repeat  the  construction 
often.  Each  pupil  should  have  been  instrumental  in 
making  such  an  exact  model  at  least  once  in  his  school 
career.  There  will  be  little  fear,  then,  that  a  teacher  will 
not  have  a  model  of  every  important  geographical  area 
to  aid  him  in  his  teaching.  The  models  so  made  should 
be  used  at  times  side  by  side  with  the  orographic  and 
other  special  maps.  The  river  drainage,  the  lines  of 
communication,  and  the  positions  of  towns  will,  in  this 
way,  be  more  intelligently  and  readily  realized. 

The  teaching  of  nature  knowledge  stands  on  somewhat 
different  ground  from  that  of  literature,  history,  and  geo- 
graphy. The  latter  has  to  rely  very  largely  on  books, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  school  needs  to  give  its  pupils 
a  training  in  the  use  of  books.  It  must  be  realized, 
however,  that  indirect  second-hand  experience  must  rely 
for  the  elements  of  its  construction  on  personal  experi- 
ence. For  example,  a  sonnet  on  spring  would  be  but 
sorry  stuff  for  pupils,  did  not  the  teacher  lead  them  to 
recall,  in  an  intense  and  vivid  way,  their  personal  experi- 
ence of  the  joy  they  themselves  felt  on  the  return  of  warm 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  131 

sunshine  and  soft  west  winds,  and  their  delight  in  the 
opening  buds  and  spring  flowers  and  the  fresh  green 
tints  of  the  trees  and  fields.  In  the  study  of  local  his- 
tory and  geography,  too,  the  methods  of  teaching  should 
depend  largely  on  personal  observation  and  experiment. 
In  the  study  of  nature,  however,  the  mind  is  wholly 
transferred  from  books  direct  to  nature  itself. 

The  key-note  of  the  learning  should  be  the  intelligent 
observation  of  natural  phenomena.  But  what  is  intelli- 
gent observation?  In  answering  this  question,  we  must 
utter  the  same  warning  that  was  given  with  regard  to 
study  from  books.  Learning  by  observation  should  be 
neither  casual,  desultory  looking,  nor  the  absorbing  and 
memorizing  of  perceived  facts.  Learning  by  observation 
does  not,  in  essence,  differ  from  learning  from  books.  In 
the  latter  case  the  data  are  given  in  words,  which  have  to  be 
interpreted  as  images  and  ideas ;  in  the  former  the  facts 
are  given  through  the  senses.  In  both,  the  learning 
should  go  beyond  the  reception  of  what  is  presented. 
Intelligence  should  work  actively  on  the  impressions, 
comparing,  contrasting,  analyzing,  grasping  similarities 
and  differences,  weighing,  and  judging,  and  so  weave  the 
facts — the  raw  material  of  knowledge — into  a  system 
that  goes  in  its  conceptions  and  conclusions  far  beyond 
the  facts  themselves. 

The  pupils1  attitude  to  the  learning  should  be  one  of 
inquiry.  The  intelligence  should  set  out  to  solve  some 
problem ;  it  may  be  to  know  exactly  what  something 
is,  or  the  way  it  came  into  being,  or  the  changes  that  are 
taking  place  in  it  and  the  conditions  that  influence  the 
change.  In  all  inquiry,  intelligence  goes  beyond  recep- 
tion to  selection  and  interpretation.  It  selects  from  the 
impressions  that  are  presented  to  consciousness  just  those 
that  appear  to  bear  on  the  inquiry  in  hand,  and  passes 
over  those  that  it  cannot  bring  into  relation  with  it 

9* 


132        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Often  intelligence  has  to  guide  the  senses  to  an  active 
search  for  the  material  it  requires  by  anticipating  what 
should  be  there,  and  what  the  senses  have  failed  to  per- 
ceive. In  anticipating  impressions,  and  in  guiding  the 
search  for  causes,  the  intelligence  operates  by  a  con- 
tinuous and  progressive  series  of  hypotheses,  supposi- 
tions, and  possible  explanations.  It  takes  jumps,  partly 
justified  by  what  it  has  already  perceived,  and  to  be  still 
further  justified  by  what  it  discovers  by  so  doing.  It 
argues  such  and  such  a  thing  might  or  ought  to  be  so 
and  so,  and  it  directs  the  senses  to  discover  if  it  is  so 
and  so. 

The  nature  of  the  process  will  be  grasped  more  clearly 
by  considering  an  example  of  it.  Suppose  the  problem 
presented  to  a  class  is,  the  use  of  a  bulb  to  a  plant.  Let 
a  hyacinth  be  taken  as  the  specimen  to  be  studied.  The 
class  examine  a  hyacinth  growing  in  a  bulb  vase,  with 
its  stem,  leaves,  and  flowers  complete.  Comparison  with 
plants  growing  in  the  soil  brings  out  the  question  and 
hypothesis :  whence  does  the  hyacinth  get  its  nutrition  ? 
Can  it  be  from  the  bulb?  Comparison  again  with  seeds 
germinating  in  damp  sawdust  or  on  damp  blotting-paper 
suggests  that  here,  again,  are  instances  of  a  plant  growing 
seemingly  without  external  nutrition.  Does  the  nutrition 
come  from  the  seed?  Memory  supplies  the  fact  that  man 
and  bird  use  seeds  and  bulbs  for  food,  hence  these  are 
nutritious  to  higher  animals.  Here,  at  least,  is  support- 
ing evidence.  Let  the  class  then  take  the  supposition, 
"  the  hyacinth  feeds  on  the  bulb,"  as  a  working  hypothesis. 
How  can  they  test  it  ?  Only  by  arguing  to  what  will 
happen  if  it  is  true.  If  the  plant  feeds  on  the  bulb,  then, 
as  the  plant  grows  in  size,  so  must  the  bulb  decrease  in 
substance ;  a  conclusion  that  can  be  tested  by  watching 
a  hyacinth  grow,  and  examining  from  time  to  time  the 
size  and  appearance  of  the  bulb. 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  133 

The  above  example  illustrates  in  brief  the  essence  of 
the  method  of  perceptual  inquiry.  It  is  the  method  by 
which  a  detective  tracks  a  criminal,  a  doctor  diagnoses  a 
disease,  a  Red  Indian  tracks  an  enemy,  a  scientist  ad- 
vances knowledge,  and,  to  bring  our  case  home  to  the 
theme  of  this  book,  by  which  a  workman  should  use  his 
initiative  and  ingenuity  in  solving  the  problems  that  are 
constantly  occurring  in  his  daily  work. 

A  word  must  be  said  on  the  scope  of  nature  know- 
ledge in  the  primary  school.  The  course  should  aim  at 
explaining  the  phenomena  of  nature  in  town  and  country 
that  are  familiar  to  the  pupils.  Further,  it  should  extend 
the  range  of  their  observation  to  important  phenomena 
that  usually  escape  their  attention.  Nor  should  we  be 
afraid  to  include  in  the  course  inquiries  into  those  pro- 
cesses of  which  man  makes  use  in  his  industries  such  as, 
for  example,  the  making  of  lime  from  limestone  and  the 
softening  of  iron  by  heat.  Many  of  the  phenomena  of 
nature  and  of  the  processes  of  industry  are  explained  by 
a  knowledge  of  chemical  and  physical  laws,  and  certainly 
pupils,  on  leaving  school,  should  have  made  some  ac- 
quaintance with  the  simpler  aspects  of  the  chemistry  and 
physics  of  water,  air  and  common  earths,  combustion, 
rusting,  solution,  evaporation,  condensation,  the  effect 
of  heat  on  the  volume,  ductility  and  hardness  of  common 
metals,  and  the  properties  of  common  earths  and  metals 
and  the  effects  of  heat,  air,  and  moisture  on  them.  All 
of  these  are  important  in  the  explanation  of  the  common 
occurrences  of  the  town  and  country  and  of  the  more 
common  processes  that  man  turns  to  use  in  his  industry. 

Inquiry  into  the  structure,  habits  and  habitat  of  living 
plants  and  animals  should,  however,  be  an  important 
part  of  any  scheme.  The  processes  of  life  and  of 
adaptation  to  environment  that  are  revealed  by  an  in- 
quiry into  plant  and  animal  life,  are  so  wide  in  the  range 


134        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

of  their  application,  and  have  such  important  bearings  on 
many  of  the  social  problems  that  are  agitating  men's 
minds  to-day,  that  no  scheme  of  education  can  be  a  liberal 
one  that  does  not  arouse  an  interest  in,  at  least,  the  simpler 
aspects  of  them.  Moreover,  the  study  of  living  organisms 
opens  out  an  inexhaustible  field  of  entrancing  problems 
that  is  free  to  anyone  who  can  spare  an  evening,  or  an 
afternoon,  to  walk  into  the  country.  Chemical  and  physical 
problems  require  for  their  study  apparatus  and  labora- 
tories, but  the  country-side  is  there  for  all.  These 
studies,  too,  are  prone,  even  with  the  professed  student, 
to  tend  to  industrial  application.  The  study  of  living 
nature,  on  the  other  hand,  is  so  little  utilitarian,  so  purely 
disinterested,  that  the  pursuit  of  it  arouses  the  pure,  in- 
tellectual joy  of  knowing  for  knowing's  sake,  a  joy  that 
we  would  fain  instil  into  the  pupils  of  our  working-class 
population.  We  do  not  in  any  way  seek  to  hide  from 
ourselves  that  education  has  its  utilitarian  aspect.  The 
aim  of  this  book  is  to  emphasize  that  aspect.  Still  less, 
however,  do  we  seek  to  hide  from  ourselves  that  "  man 
does  not  live  by  bread  alone  " ;  and  of  all  studies,  the 
sympathetic  study  of  plants  and  animals  inspires  in  pupils 
an  intellectual  joy  of  like  kind  to  their  joy  in  romance 
and  adventure. 

Even  were  these  reasons  for  the  inclusion  of  the  study 
of  plants  and  animals  inadequate,  a  fully  sufficient  reason 
would  be  found  in  the  effect  that  a  real  study  of  living 
nature  has  on  the  outdoor  habits  and  interests  of  pupils. 
Any  real  study  of  nature  cannot  be  carried  on  in  the  class- 
room or  in  laboratories  alone.  These  are  of  little  value, 
except  as  secondary  aids  in  the  teaching.  They  should 
render  more  methodical,  and  concentrate  more  syste- 
matically, the  study  of  nature  in  the  fields,  commons, 
hedges,  woods,  and  streams  of  the  country. 

Further,  the  study  of  plants  and  animals  in  the  country 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  135 

should  be  but  incidental  to  roaming  in  the  country,  and 
interest  in  them  should  be  but  part  of  a  larger  delight  in 
all  the  sensations  the  country  pours  into  the  mind.  A 
youth  has  missed  a  great  experience  that  no  books  and 
no  schooling  can  make  up  to  him,  if  he  has  never  re- 
sponded to  the  invigorating  air  of  the  country,  to  its 
wide  expanse  of  sky  and  earth,  to  the  smell  of  its  woods 
and  fields,  to  the  sight  and  sound  of  running  water,  to 
racing  clouds  and  blowing  winds — experiences  that  are 
enhanced  by  the  sense  of  freedom  in  his  whole  being  from 
the  restraints  of  the  houses  and  streets  of  the  town.  As 
we  rise  refreshed  in  body  from  a  bath,  so  we  come  back 
refreshed  in  mind  from  a  day  in  the  woods,  or  on  the 
moors,  or  strolling  along  quiet  country  lanes.  Nature's 
enchantments,  as  Emerson  says,  are  "  medicinal,  they 
heal  and  sober  us.  They  are  plain  treasures,  kindly  and 
native  to  us.  We  come  to  our  own,  and  make  friends 
with  matter,  which  the  ambitious  chatter  of  the  schools 
would  persuade  us  to  despise.  We  never  can  part  with 
it ;  the  mind  loves  its  old  home ;  as  water  to  our  thirst, 
so  is  the  rock,  the  ground,  to  our  eyes,  and  hands,  and 
feet/' 

Nature  educates  in  some  such  way  as  a  great  cathedral, 
a  grand  oratorio,  or  a  great  personality  educates  by  its 
mere  presence.  We  cannot  say  what  we  have  learnt 
from  them.  We  may  have  learnt  nothing  that  we  can 
put  into  words.  They  have  filled  our  minds  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  else ;  they  hold  us  chained  till  our  senses 
are  satiated  ;  they  lift  us  for  the  time  beyond  all  common 
things.  And  when  we  turn  with  reluctance,  even  some- 
times with  relief,  to  workaday  affairs,  we  know  we  have 
seen  a  vision,  that  we  are  better  and  happier  for  it,  that 
the  common  things  of  life  will  never  again  be  quite  so 
common  as  they  were. 

Of  all  children,  the  town  child,  spoilt  by  the  excitement 


136        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

of  the  town,  needs  most  the  medicinal  education  that 
Nature  gives  to  mind  and  body.  There  can  be  no  more 
valuable  result  from  any  school  pursuit,  than  that  of 
bringing  the  town  child  at  frequent  intervals  under  its 
influences.  The  aim  of  nature  teaching  should  be  to 
form  such  habits,  and  to  create  such  interests,  as  will  lead 
the  pupils  to  turn  instinctively  to  the  country  for  their 
recreation.  After  all,  it  matters  little  how  much  formal 
knowledge  of  plants  and  animals  a  pupil  gains  ;  but  it 
matters  much  to  the  nation  whether  the  children  of  its 
industrial  population  are  to  be  brought  up  with  senses 
cramped  by  the  bricks  and  walls  of  a  town  and  the  smell 
of  smoke  and  the  streets,  or  whether  they  are  to  have  in 
them  interests  that  will  take  them  on  evenings  and 
Saturday  afternoons  into  the  country,  there  to  re-create 
in  themselves  the  freshness  and  elasticity  of  body  and 
mind  that  town  life  tends  so  much  to  destroy. 

Nature  studied  in  the  country,  then,  should  be  the 
primary  mode  of  learning,  and  it  will  be  well  if  the  teacher 
does  not  keep  the  senses  of  his  pupils  too  much  strained  on 
the  small  things,  but  permits  them  to  drink  in  the  larger 
sights  and  sounds.  The  records  of  the  excursions  jotted 
by  the  pupils  in  their  notebooks,  largely  in  the  form  of 
rough  sketches,  must,  of  course,  be  systematized  by  class- 
room teaching ;  and  here  there  is  need  for  nature  to  be 
brought  into  the  classroom.  The  dead  leaf  and  flower, 
however,  hardly  ever  should  be  found  there.  The  plants 
and  flowers  required  for  classroom  work  should  be  grown 
;n  the  classroom  in  pots  and  boxes.  There  should,  too,  be 
gauzed  boxes  for  chrysalids  and  caterpillars,  a  herbarium 
for  insects,  and  an  aquarium  for  water  plants,  water  in- 
sects, and  fishes.  As  life  develops  before  the  eyes  of  the 
pupils,  as  they  see  the  seed  germinate,  the  buds  unfold,  the 
flower  blossom,  the  fruit  form,  the  caterpillar  weave  its 
cocoon,  the  chrysalid  burst  forth  into  a  perfect  insect,  the 


THE  CULTURE  STUDIES  137 

ways  of  Nature  are  continuously  and  progressively  un- 
folded to  their  wondering  gaze  in  a  way  that  inspires 
them  to  a  loving  study  of  her  marvellous  works — a  study 
quite  impossible  when  the  staple  examples  used  of 
Nature's  work  are  the  dried  specimen  and  the  gathered 
flower. 

Finally,  we  must  ask  in  what  forms  of  practical  work 
the  study  of  nature  can  find  a  valuable  expression. 
Examining  specimens,  drying  and  mounting  them,  sketch- 
ing and  colouring,  are  valuable  forms  that  may  be  carried 
on  in  the  classroom.  A  more  practical  and  active  form  is 
to  be  found  in  school  gardening.  The  school  garden,  where 
it  exists,  is  far  too  often  a  place  where  the  pupils  learn  how 
not  to  keep  a  garden.  If  a  garden  is  to  be  of  value  to 
the  pupils,  it  must  be  looked  after  in  a  serious  manner. 
There  should  be  no  dilettante  pottering,  five  minutes  at 
one  time,  and  five  minutes  at  another.  It  should  be  re- 
garded as  a  pursuit  requiring  as  much  time,  attention, 
and  teaching  as  does  woodwork.  A  garden  should  not 
be  attached  to  a  school  because  it  is  the  latest  fad,  and  all 
the  inspectors  are  recommending  it,  or  because  it  sounds 
so  nice  to  have  a  garden.  A  garden  may  be  attached 
legitimately  to  the  school  for  either  of  two  purposes. 
First,  it  may  be  used  as  an  adjunct  to  the  classroom  study 
of  plants  so  that  the  pupils  can  study  the  growth  of 
plants  from  growing  specimens.  As  such,  it  is  only  a 
larger  flowerpot  or  plant  box.  Secondly,  it  may  be  used 
to  give  pupils  a  practical  knowledge  of  and  a  practical 
skill  in  gardening.  It  is  for  this  latter  purpose  it  should 
be  attached  to  the  artisan  primary  school.  If  gardening 
is  ever  to  be  pursued  by  working  men  as  a  recreation 
after  working  hours  for  profit  and  for  pleasure,  the » interest 
and  knowledge  and  skill  necessary  should  be  gained 
when  young.  How  many  a  man  makes  no  use  of  a  garden 
or  allotment  because  there  has  been  aroused  in  him  no 


138        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

interest  in  gardening?  How  many  a  man  labours  in  his 
garden  fruitlessly  because  he  never  gained  any  knowledge 
of  or  skill  in  gardening,  and  knows  not  where  or  how  to 
learn  ?  On  the  other  hand,  how  many  a  man  is  there  who 
finds  recreation  and  solace  after  the  labours  of  the  day  in 
the  cultivation  of  flowers,  and  takes  a  pride  in  growing 
roses  or  sweet  peas  or  carnations  larger  and  finer  than 
those  of  his  neighbour,  and,  if  he  saves  money  by  growing 
vegetables,  should  we  not  approve  his  thrifty  mind  ?  It 
is  for  the  practical  end  of  training  pupils  to  keep  a  garden 
for  pleasure  and  profit  that  we  would  attach  a  garden  to 
the  school. 

For  this  purpose  the  garden  plot  must  be  large.  It 
need  not  be  near  the  school  buildings.  A  plot  in  the 
nearest  allotments  will  do  quite  well.  It  will  not  harm 
the  pupils  to  walk  half  a  mile  away  from  the  school 
buildings  rather  than  towards  them.  If  they  arrive  half 
an  hour  late,  well  let  them  stay  half  an  hour  beyond  the 
school  leaving  hour.  There  is  no  fetish  in  the  hour  of 
four,  and  the  pupils  will  be  in  the  open  air  and  exercising 
their  limbs.  They  will  not  suffer  from  brain-fag  or 
nervous  exhaustion  in  the  school  garden.  The  pupils 
should  .themselves  dig,  drain,  and  trench  the  ground,  pre- 
pare the  soil,  plant  the  seed  and  seedlings,  tend  the  plants, 
and  do  all  the  very  varied  work  of  the  gardener  through- 
out the  whole  year.  To  do  this  thoroughly,  it  is  not 
possible  for  every  boy  in  the  school  to  be  attached  to  the 
gardening  class.  Several  groups  of  pupils  could  pursue 
the  course  throughout  the  year,  and  at  the  end  give  place 
to  several  other  groups.  The  training  must  not  be  made 
desultory  or  casual  by  too  many  groups,  and  too  many 
pupils  in  a  group,  working  on  a  small  plot  It  is  better 
to  train  a  few  thoroughly,  than  many  indifferently. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS. 

THE  practical  pursuits  of  the  primary  artisan  school 
should  develop  in  the  pupils  practical  skill,  practical 
intelligence,  and  a  sentiment  of  pride  in  good  workman- 
ship. These  are  the  qualities  the  artisan  needs  to  fit  him 
for  his  economic  place  in  society.  These  pursuits  are, 
first  and  foremost,  "  bread  and  butter  "  pursuits.  We  do 
not  seek  to  hide  their  utilitarian  object,  nor  to  cloak  it 
with  any  high-sounding  educational  "  terminological  in- 
exactitudes ".  Their  intention  is  to  train  those  qualities 
of  body,  brain,  and  character  that  are  required  in  the 
work  of  earning  a  livelihood.  We  openly  avow  that  we 
seek  to  turn  these  artisan  youths  into  good  carpenters, 
cabinet-makers,  plumbers,  mechanics,  bricklayers,  and 
the  like.  Why  should  we,  because  we  write  in  the 
sacred  name  of  education,  be  ashamed  of  it  ?  We  cannot 
purge  real  life  of  the  utilitarian  ;  nor  would  we  if  we 
could.  We  believe  in  work — hard  work  and  useful  work. 
It  makes  men  of  us.  It  sharpens  our  wits  and  braces 
our  will.  It  gives  us  a  purpose  in  life  that  can  be  neither 
denied  nor  forsaken,  and  brings  out  all  those  fighting 
qualities  of  manhood  by  which  the  working  races  of  the 
world  have  proved  their  superiority  in  the  world.  Work, 
whether  for  a  living,  for  ambition,  or,  highest  of  all,  for 
the  joy  in  seeking  perfection,  is  one  of  the  world's  great 
educators.  St.  Benedict  realized  this  when  he  prescribed 
it  as  a  path  to  holiness.  We  have  already  admitted  its 

139 


140        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

educative  value  in  a  previous  chapter,1  when  we  advocated 
the  joiner's  bench,  the  contractor's  yard,  and  the  engineer's 
shop  as  educative  institutions,  capable  of  training  the 
youth  after  schooldays  in  a  way  impossible  in  the  school. 
For  in  the  employer's  workshop,  work  is  real  work.  There 
it  is  no  playing  at  work  as  it  often  is  at  school.  It  is 
performed  under  the  stern  conditions  of  economic  pres- 
sure, and  hardens  the  character  and  gives  a  truer  edge  to 
skill. 

We  have  no  sympathy  with  that  pedagogic  snobbery 
that  can  perceive  the  educational  only  in  the  economically 
useless.  Do  not  let  us  worship  the  useful  unduly,  for 
life  has  other  and  higher  ends  than  it.  But  let  us  honestly 
face  modern  life  as  we  find  it.  "  He  that  shall  not  work, 
neither  shall  he  eat,"  and  the  first  necessity  of  a  working 
man  is  to  earn  the  wherewithal  to  provide  food  and  shelter 
for  his  wife  and  family.  Of  what  use  is  his  schooling 
to  him  if  he  is  flung  on  the  streets  without  the  power  of 
doing  a  single  useful  thing  ?  He  may  write  and  read  and 
spell,  but  Political  Economy  holds  these  of  little  account. 
But,  it  will  be  said,  we  should  not  train  pupils  for  any 
trade ;  we  should  train  intelligence,  character  and  man- 
hood. By  all  means  let  us  train  manhood,  but  will  the 
pupil  attain  to  manhood  if,  without  any  hand  being  held 
out  to  help  him,  he  is  left  to  wander  on  those  broad 
paths  that  lead  to  unemployment,  pauperism,  vagrancy, 
and  crime?  Manhood  will  best  be  attained  by  his  being 
taught  to  work,  to  work  with  his  hands  honestly  and 
zealously,  to  earn  the  right  to  exist  by  the  strength  of  his 
body  and  the  skill  of  his  hands,  to  look  the  whole  world 
honestly  in  the  face  because  he  is  giving  to  the  world  as 
much  as  he  takes  from  it.  As  long  as  for  the  majority 
of  men  useful  work  is  the  law  of  life,  our  schools  and 
society  cannot  afford  to  ignore  it  and  treat  it  as  education- 

1p.  54- 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  141 

ally  contemptible.  With  wider  outlook,  our  educators 
should  grasp  the  fact  that  through  work  a  man  realizes 
his  manhood.  If  he  is  foolish,  lazy,  or  vicious,  he  shows 
it  in  the  wasteful,  grudging  or  scamped  workmanship  he 
produces.  If  he  has  in  him  the  Manhood  of  Industry,  he 
shows  it  in  the  pride  he  has  in  his  work,  and  the  pleasure 
he  gets  from  it.  That  manhood  the  boy  and  youth  will 
only  attain  to  through  doing  useful  work.  Instead,  there- 
fore, of  contemning  work,  the  school  should  do  what  it  can 
to  make  of  useful  work  an  honourable,  educative  instru- 
ment through  which  one  aspect  of  manhood  may  be 
attained. 

This  is  all  very  true,  it  may  be  urged.  By  all  means 
let  us  prepare  our  pupils  to  enter  their  future  work  with 
skill  and  intelligence,  and  with  honest  pride  and  zeal,  but 
do  not  let  us  definitely  prepare  them  for  this  or  that  trade. 
Let  us  devise  for  the  school  some  ingenious,  practical 
pursuits  that  will  develop  some  general  form  of  hand 
skill,  some  general  form  of  intelligence,  and  some  general 
spirit  of  workmanship,  so  that,  when  the  pupil  comes  to 
leave  school,  he  may  enter  any  form  of  employment  with 
fair  prospect  of  becoming  a  good  workman.  Let  us 
teach  woodwork,  but  not  practical  carpentry  and  cabinet- 
making  ;  metalwork,  but  not  engineering  and  plumbing. 
But  why?  The  operations  of  carpentry  and  cabinet- 
making,  of  engineering  and  plumbing  require  even  more 
skill,  intelligence,  and  care  than  many  of  the  artificial  tasks 
of  school  woodwork.  To  perform  them  is  as  productive 
of  manual  dexterity,  of  initiative  and  ingenuity,  and  of 
determination,  as  any  of  the  exercises  of  Sloyd.  Why, 
then,  should  the  school  contemn  the  real,  practical  prob- 
lems and  exalt  the  artificial  ? 

There  seems  in  educational  thought  to  be  a  cult  of  the 
artificial.  We  see  it  in  the  manual  exercises  of  Sloyd,  in 
the  practical  measuring  of  wooden  cubes,  prisms  and 


142        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

cylinders,  in  the  physical  exercises  of  the  Swedish  and 
other  systems.  Yet  we  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  the 
operations  and  work  demanded  by  a  useful  craft,  and  the 
numerous  and  varied  movements  required  in  engaging  in 
a  game  or  contest,  are  more  truly  and  highly  educative 
than  is  any  series  of  artificial  exercises  that  the  wit  of 
man  can  devise. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  great  factor  of  the  attitude 
of  the  pupils  to  the  learning.  We  have  seen  that,  onward 
from  the  age  of  eleven  or  twelve,  the  artisan  boy  has  his 
mind  increasingly  turned  on  the  question  of  work.  What 
he  is  going  to  work  at,  and  the  things  that  bear  on  that 
work,  fix  his  attention  at  once,  and  he  will  grudge  no  effort 
to  learn  them  well.  But  whittling  wood  with  a  knife,  or 
smoothing  a  cylinder  with  sandpaper,  or  measuring  the 
side  of  a  wooden  cube,  arouses  in  the  boy  little  earnestness 
and  sense  of  value  after  the  first  novelty  is  over.  His 
heart  is  not  in  such  work.  And  there  can  be  no  education 
of  character  where  the  will  is  not  aroused  to  zealous  effort. 

With  a  real  piece  of  carpentry,  or  engineering,  or 
plumbing  to  do,  the  boy  perceives  the  utility  of  it.  Men 
do  such  things  for  a  living.  It  is  real,  and  not  a  school 
fiction.  He  is  in  the  right  attitude  of  learning  at  once, 
keen  to  solve  the  problems  and  to  do  the  work  skilfully, 
and  ungrudging  in  his  efforts  to  succeed.  Such  real  use- 
ful work,  we  claim,  calls  out  all  that  is  best  in  the  boy ; 
and  that  is  the  true  path  to  manhood 

Moreover,  the  problems  involved  in  a  piece  of  useful 
work  are  more  varied  and  complex  than  those  of  artificial 
exercises.  The  latter  are  arranged  so  as  to  present  diffi- 
culties in  due  gradation,  and  the  pupil  goes  on  from 
exercise  to  exercise  with  no  chasms  or  gulfs  to  break  the 
gradual  progression.  In  the  problems  of  real  work  there 
are  many  unexpected  difficulties,  and  many  disturbing 
side  issues.  Problems  do  not  always  present  a  clear 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  143 

case.  Pupils,  when  faced  with  them,  find  pitfalls  for 
which  they  are  unprepared.  These  unexpected  and  un- 
prepared for  issues  disturb  the  methodical  sense  of 
the  pedantic  pedagogue,  who  loves  "  scientific  "  gradation. 
And  yet,  if  initiative  and  ingenuity,  determination  and 
effort  are  to  be  trained,  how  can  they  be  trained  but  by 
the  unexpected  and  the  unprepared  for?  And  where 
can  we  find  these  so  readily  as  in  the  problems  that  con- 
front the  practical  joiner  and  engineer  ?  Hence,  there- 
fore, on  the  grounds  of  training  character  and  intelli- 
gence, we  believe  that  the  school  is  most  truly  educative 
in  its  practical  aspect,  when  it  makes  its  practical  pursuits 
as  like  as  possible  to  the  practical  problems  the  pupils 
will  be  called  on  to  solve  when  they  leave  school. 

The  practical  pursuits  of  the  school,  though  utilitarian, 
should  be  taught  and  learned  in  an  educative  way.  Each 
exercise  should  be  made  to  yield  its  full  measure  of  dis- 
cipline of  skill,  of  intelligence,  and  of  will  power.  There 
has  always  been  a  tendency  to  teach  the  useful  trades,  each 
as  a  narrow,  mechanical  dexterity,  limited  in  its  scope  to 
the  automatic  performance  of  a  few  actions.  It  is  largely 
for  this  reason  that  the  utilitarian  has  been  despised  as 
an  educative  instrument.  There  exists,  however,  no  valid 
reason  why  a  trade  should  be  taught  in  such  a  mechanical 
way.  As  we  have  said,  trades  and  crafts  provide  many 
excellent  opportunities  for  cultivating  a  wide  knowledge 
of  things,  for  invoking  intelligence  to  the  consideration 
of  ways  and  means,  and  training  a*  manual  skill  of  a  fairly 
broad  scope.  It  is  only  when  so  taught  that  the  utili- 
tarian becomes  an  educative  instrument. 

In  the  first  place,  the  practical  exercises  should  embrace 
a  varied  assortment  of  problems,  and  provide  for  the 
handling  of  many  kinds  of  tools.  They  should  be  arranged 
so  as  to  progress  to  more  involved  problems  demanding 
a  planning  out  of  ways  and  means. 


144        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

In  the  course,  there  should  be  different  kinds  of  work 
with  woods  of  different  hardness  and  quality  and  involv- 
ing the  use  of  all  the  common  tools,  the  making  of  joints, 
forging,  casting  and  drilling  in  iron,  tin  and  lead,  book- 
binding and  cardboard  box-making,  simple  printing,  and 
work  of  a  similar  kind  that  has  to  be  done  inside  a  work- 
shop with  benches  and  tools.  Outside,  in  a  suitable  waste 
space,  the  pupils  can  engage  in  simple  bridge-making,  con- 
structing of  roofs  and  small  wooden  buildings,  surveying, 
levelling  and  laying  out  ground  for  building  purposes.  A 
supply  of  timber,  poles,  ropes,  etc.,  once  procured,  could  be 
used  again  and  again  in  the  way  that  similar  material 
is  used  in  instructing  the  recruits  of  a  corps  of  engineers. 
To  gardening  we  have  already  alluded  in  connexion  with 
the  teaching  of  nature  knowledge.  The  practical  pursuits 
in  connexion  with  the  field  work  of  summer  camps  will 
be  considered  in  dealing  with  that  topic  in  a  later 
chapter. 

It  is  not  supposed,  of  course,  that  all  the  above  pur- 
suits will  be  taught  in  one  school,  nor  that  every  pupil 
will  take  every  course  that  the  school  provides.  The  pur- 
suits selected  for  each  school  should  be  determined  by 
the  needs  of  the  district. 

Further,  each  exercise  should  be  based  on  a  knowledge 
of  the  materials  and  forces  used,  and  on  an  estimate  of 
the  quantities  required  to  accomplish  the  result.  Hence, 
in  intimate  correlation  with  the  practical  exercises,  there 
should  be  instruction  in  : — 

1.  The  properties  of  the  various   woods,    metals, 

earths,  etc.,  used,  and  the  way  these  properties 
are  made  use  of  in  industry. 

2.  The  laws  of  force  and  the  simpler  ways  of  manip- 

ulating force,  e.g.  the  lever,  pulley,  and  inclined 
plane. 

3.  The  practical  measurement  of  space,  mass,  and 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  145 

force  in  ways  and  with  the  measuring  instru- 
ments used  in  industry. 

In  other  words,  the  practical  side  of  the  curriculum 
should  embrace  those  simpler  aspects  of  physics,  me- 
chanics, and  the  art  of  measuring  that  are  essential  to  the 
intelligent  performance  of  industrial  work. 

It  is  not  intended  that  each  of  the  above  should  be 
taught  as  a  separate  course,  that  there  should  be  a  special 
treatment  of  materials,  another  of  mechanics,  and  a  third 
of  practical  measurements.  One  of  the  banes  of  school 
organization  is  the  tendency  of  schoolmasters  to  keep 
each  subject  distinct  from  every  other,  to  label  it  with  a 
special  name,  give  it  a  particular  place  on  the  time-table, 
and  teach  it  in  a  watertight  compartment.  Nor  should 
a  teacher  think  because  something  in  chemistry  or  physics 
is  needed  in  order  to  understand  some  industrial  pro- 
cess, that  the  pupils  should  take  a  complete  course  of 
chemistry  or  physics.  The  instruction  in  materials  and 
the  laws  of  force  should  be  given  incidentally  to  the  prac- 
tical exercises.  It  should  arise  out  of  them,  and  bear  on 
them,  in  a  thoroughly  practical  manner.  The  course  in 
practical  mathematics,  perhaps,  stands  on  a  different 
footing.  From  the  nature  of  the  subject,  it  must  be 
systematically  progressive,  and  yet,  although  every  at- 
tempt should  be  made  to  link  it  closely  with  the  scheme  of 
practical  work,  it  is  not  always  possible  for  the  two 
courses  to  synchronize  in  the  happiest  of  ways. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  we  have  placed  Mathematics  or 
Arithmetic  in  the  practical  part  of  the  curriculum,  and  not 
in  that  of  culture.  We  have  done  so  because  we  hold  that, 
as  far  as  the  ordinary  individual  is  concerned,  mathematics 
is  required  in  life  for  purposes  of  practical  calculation. 
We  shall  consider  the  teaching  of  this  subject,  then,  en- 
tirely from  the  point  of  view  of  its  usefulness  in  life. 
As  far  as  the  artisan  primary  school  is  concerned,  the 

10 


146        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

mathematics  should  have  a  decidedly  trade  and  craft 
application,  an  application  quite  different  from  the  one 
that  the  primary  school  usually  gives.  Arithmetic  and 
the  arithmetic  textbook  developed  in  connexion  with 
commerce,  and  so  through  the  power  of  the  textbook — 
one  of  the  mightiest  forces  in  modern  schooling — it  comes 
about  thatjthe  primary  school  boy  is  taught  to  work  prob- 
lems on  commissions,  interest,  discount,  annuities,  stocks 
and  shares,  and  knows  next  to  nothing  of  the  measure- 
ment of  space,  mass,  and  force.  Yet  these  latter  are 
the  things  with  which  he  will  have  to  deal  in  industry. 
The  problems  on  them  are  not  more  difficult  than  those  on 
money.  Area  and  volume,  density  and  levers  are  not  be- 
yond the  intelligence  of  the  boy  of  thirteen  and  fourteen. 
At  least,  the  writer  has  never  experienced  any  difficulty  in 
making  these  matters  clear  to  boys  of  the  industrial  class. 
There  is,  then,  nothing  in  the  nature  of  industrial 
arithmetic  that  should  cause  it  to  be  banished  from  the 
primary  school.  It  is  banished  because  the  teacher  can 
teach  only  what  was  taught  to  him,  and  what  his  school 
and  college  textbook  prescribe  for  him.  Happy  is  the 
school  with  teachers  who  can  wrench  themselves  free 
from  the  textbook,  and  bring  their  minds  without  prejudice 
to  solve  the  real  problems  of  the  school.  Unfortunately 
the  textbook  and  its  tradition  die  hard. 

We  have  heard  some  teachers  remark  quite  seriously, 
that  area  and  volume  belong  to  mensuration,  and  density 
and  levers  to  mechanics.  It  is  only  interest,  stocks,  shares, 
and  such  things  that  belong  to  arithmetic.  What  virtue 
there  is  in  a  name !  Even  if  they  did,  would  it  matter  ? 
These  things  should  be  taught  whatever  be  their  name,  if 
they  are  what  the  pupils  should  have.  The  objection  shows 
how  utterly  under  the  dominion  of  the  textbook  many 
teachers  are.  Arithmetic,  in  itself,  is  neither  concerned 
with  money,  nor  with  space  and  force.  Its  subject  matter 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  147 

is  just  abstract  number.  In  its  application,  however, 
arithmetic  is  measurement,  and  is  concerned  with  the 
measurement  of  whatever  can  be  measured — time,  space, 
mass,  force,  heat,  light,  electricity,  as  well  as  money  and 
a  host  of  other  things.  Hence,  whatever  be  the  appli- 
cations of  arithmetic,  common  to  them  all  are  numeration, 
the  operations  of  addition,  subtraction,  mqltiplication 
and  division,  the  fractional  and  decimal  notations,  the 
principles  of  ratio  and  proportion,  and  the  algebraic  and 
graphical  forms  of  expression.  These  are  required  in 
all  measurement  and  calculation.  They  must  be  under- 
stood by  the  artisan  boy  equally  with  his  commercial 
brother.  Accuracy  and  quickness  in  calculation,  too, 
are  arithmetic  virtues  needed  in  all  measuring,  and  they 
are  only  acquired  by  much  practice.  Hence,  whatever 
be  the  material  application  of  arithmetic,  the  school 
should  provide  plenty  of  opportunity  for  practice  in  cal- 
culation. In  respect  both  to  the  groundwork  of  arithmetic 
and  to  arithmetical  practice,  the  artisan  school  differs  in 
no  respect  from  the  commercial  school. 

Arithmetic,  however,  should  be  neither  taught  nor 
practised  in  the  abstract.  Its  operations,  methods,  and 
principles  should  be  learnt  and  memorized  through  con- 
crete examples,  either  in  the  form  of  materials  actually 
measured  by  the  class,  or  examples  considered  in  "  prob- 
lem "  form.  It  is,  therefore,  in  the  form  in  which  arith- 
metic is  presented,  that  the  artisan  school  should  give 
the  industrial  bias.  Instead  of  fractions,  decimals,  per- 
centages, ratio,  proportion  and  graphs  being  taught  and 
practised  in  connexion  with  commercial  problems,  they 
should  be  taught  and  practised  in  connexion  with  the 
various  ways  of  measuring  different  kinds  of  lengths, 
distances,  heights,  areas  and  volumes  of  different  shapes, 
mass,  density,  and  force;  and  the  methods  and  units 
of  measurement,  moreover,  should  be  those  in  use  in 

10  * 


148        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  yards,  shops,  factories,  and  warehouses  of  in- 
dustry. 

Arithmetic  in  industrial  life  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
practical  measurement.  Hence,  for  the  purposes  of  the 
artisan  school,  arithmetic  should  be  regarded  as  the  art,  as 
well  as  the  science,  of  measuring.  Pupils  should  be 
trained  to  measure  with  the  implements  that  are  used  in 
industry,  so  as  to  gain  both  a  knowledge  of  measur- 
ing instruments  and  an  intelligent  skill  in  the  use  of 
them. 

The  instruments  of  measurement  are  many  and  various, 
having  been  devised  to  meet  the  very  varied  con- 
ditions under  which  space,  mass  and  force  have  to  be 
measured,  and  the  degree  of  accuracy  required.  Thus, 
length  may  be  measured  by  a  two-foot  rule,  a  tape,  a 
builder's  lath,  a  chain,  calipers,  a  screw  gauge,  or,  in- 
directly, by  means  of  a  theodolite  or  clinometer.  Weight 
may  be  measured  directly  by  an  arm  balance,  a  steel 
yard,  and  a  spring  balance,  or  indirectly  by  means  of  the 
volume  and  specific  gravity.  The  volume  of  a  casting 
can  be  estimated  by  means  of  its  weight  and  specific 
gravity,  by  methods  of  immersion,  or  by  calculation  from 
the  cross  section  area. 

Moreover,  each  mode  of  measuring  and  each  instru- 
ment have  their  own  peculiar  weaknesses.  Even  to 
measure  accurately  the  width  or  height  of  a  room  is  more 
difficult  than  is  ordinarily  supposed.  A  two-foot  rule  or  a 
yard  measure  that  has  to  be  progressively  moved,  brings 
a  fresh  error  every  time  it  is  put  down.  Using  a  tape, 
too,  will  bring  error  if  the  line  of  measurement  be  not 
straight,  or  at  right  angles  to  the  walls.  In  measuring 
smaller  distances  such  as  the  bore  of  a  pipe  or  the  thick- 
ness of  wire,  other  forms  of  error  enter.  Mistakes  of 
reading  due  to  an  inaccurate  or  careless  use  of  calipers 
or  screw  gauge,  though  small  in  themselves,  are,  relatively 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  149 

to  thq  length  measured,  great.  Thus,  a  pupil  given  a 
piece  of  measuring  to  do  is  up  against  problems  that 
require  knowledge,  initiative,  and  skill.  He  has  to  ask 
himself:  what  particular  method  of  measuring  is  appro- 
priate, what  instrument  is  most  suitable,  what  kind  of 
errors  should  be  guarded  against,  and  what  degree  of 
accuracy  can  be  attained  ?  To  work  a  practical  problem 
analogous  to  many  of  those  that  are  of  daily  occurrence 
in  an  engineering  works,  requires  a  quick  insight  into  the 
peculiarities  of  the  case,  ingenuity  to  devise  ways  and 
means  to  meet  the  unexpected,  and  skilled  care  in  using 
the  measuring  tool  to  obtain  accuracy. 

It  is  these  attributes  of  a  good  workman  that  the 
practical  measurements  of  the  artisan  school  should  try 
to  secure.  It  is  obvious  they  cannot  be  secured  by  the 
pupils  measuring  such  regular  figures  as  squares,  oblongs, 
cubes,  cylinders,  and  cones,  that  form  the  staple  practical 
exercises  of  many  courses  in  practical  measurement. 
These  cases  present  no  variety,  no  difficulties,  no  peculi- 
arities. They  are  straightforward  cases  of  a  rule.  They 
have  their  value  in  teaching  as  a  means  of  presenting 
methods  and  rules  that  are  typical.  They  have  none  in 
developing  the  initiative  and  ingenuity  that  make  up  the 
power  of  adapting  the  typical  to  the  peculiar.  The 
practical  exercises  that  will  sharpen  a  boy's  wits  are 
those  that  depart  from  the  normal  type,  and  such  as  are 
found  in  abundance  in  the  problems  that  face  an  intelli- 
gent workman  in  the  builder's  yard  and  the  engineering 
workshop. 

To  obtain  the  material  for  these  varied  exercises,  the 
teacher  is  recommended  to  obtain  from  neighbouring 
engineers,  builders  and  joiners,  a  collection  of  odds  and 
ends  that  usually  lie  on  the  scrap  heap,  such  as  odd  bolts, 
ties,  rivets,  pieces  of  piping,  old  fall  pipes,  castings, 
brackets,  bits  of  railway  and  tramway  lines,  pulley  wheels, 


ISO       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

cogged  wheels,  shafting,  chains,  old  tanks,  tubs,  and 
barrels.  These  an  employer  will  often  present  free  to 
a  school  when  he  knows  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
intended,  or,  at  the  worst,  will  charge  only  a  few  nominal 
shillings. 

Besides  the  above  examples,  the  school  buildings  them- 
selves offer  a  vast  scope  for  practical  measurement  To 
the  building  of  the  school  there  has  gone  a  large  amount 
of  measuring,  planning,  and  estimating  in  connexion  with 
the  supply  of  bricks,  mortar,  cement,  plaster,  glass,  panel- 
ling, floor  boards,  piping,  flagging,  etc.  In  the  completed 
building  much  of  this  is  capable  of  being  measured  by  the 
pupils,  the  quantities  calculated,  and  the  prices  estimated. 
It  is  important  in  such  work  that  the  teacher  should 
make  himself  acquainted  with  the  prices  of  materials, 
and  the  units  in  which  they  are  usually  measured  and 
sold.  Each  part  of  a  building,  moreover,  involves  quite  a 
considerable  number  of  problems.  For  example,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  concreting  of  the  playground,  the  pupils 
can  measure  the  area  of  the  yard,  calculate  the  amount 
of  broken  bricks  and  stones  to  lay  a  foundation  of  a 
given  thickness,  the  quantity  of  cement  to  give  a  surface 
of  a  certain  depth,  the  number  of  loads  of  the  materials 
required,  the  proportions  of  the  ingredients  in  the 
cement,  and  the  cost  of  each  and  of  the  labour  and 
carting.  The  pupils  in  working  out  such  problems  will 
store  up  quite  a  fund  of  knowledge  of  the  prices  of  ma- 
terials and  of  labour,  and  of  the  different  modes  of 
measuring  each. 

Again,  outside  the  school  yard,  there  are  further  oppor- 
tunities for  practice.  The  heights  of  buildings,  chimneys, 
and  telegraph  poles,  the  areas  of  recreation  grounds  and 
waste  spaces,  the  amount  of  fencing  or  railing  round  them, 
the  quantity  of  boarding  in  street  hoardings,  the  amount 
of  flagging  and  stone  sets  in  a  given  length  of  road,  all 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  151 

offer  problems  that  will  tax  the  pupil's  skill  and  ingenuity 
in  measuring  and  his  power  of  calculation. 

All  cases  of  practical  measurement  beyond  the  simplest 
need  to  be  accompanied  by  a  drawing  to  scale.  Drawing 
to  scale  and  rough  sketching  are  arts  that  every  good 
joiner,  cabinetmaker,  plumber,  and  mechanic  should  be 
proficient  in.  Hence,  they  should  form  a  branch  of  the 
practical  training.  A  pupil,  then,  who  is  given  such  a 
problem  as  the  calculation  of  the  amount  of  iron  in  a 
length  of  tramway  line  will  proceed  as  follows :  he  will 
make  a  rough  sketch  of  the  cross  section,  take  the  necess- 
ary measurements — a  process  to  tax  his  adaptive  ingenu- 
ity,— draw  the  cross  section  exactly  to  scale,  estimate  the 
cross  section  area,  then  the  volume  of  the  given  length, 
and,  working  through  the  specific  gravity  of  iron,  calcul- 
ate the  weight. 

The  course  in  practical  mathematics,  indications  of 
which  are  given  above,  will  not  only  develop  a  pupil's 
practical  intelligence  and  skill,  but  will  also  give  him  a 
fuller  and  clearer  grasp  of  the  conceptions  of  arithmetic 
and  geometry.  For  example,  a  boy  who  has  worked 
through  a  number  of  textbook  examples  on  the  relation 
of  the  circumference  of  a  circle  to  the  radius  with  a  black- 
board drawing  as  the  only  illustration,  usually  finds  TT  an 
unholy  mystery  to  him.  Even  when  he  has  measured 
cardboard  circles  and  cylinders,  TT  is  largely  an  arithmetic 
convention  of  little  use  outside  the  classroom  desk.  But 
when  he  is  given  actual  fall  pipes,  gas  and  water  piping, 
shafting,  pulley  wheels,  and  the  like  to  deal  with,  and  the 
problems  on  them  take  a  practical  workshop  form,  he 
finds  TT  is  an  instrument  as  necessary  to  a  skilled  work- 
man as  a  ruler  is  to  a  draughtsman,  and  he  values  it  as 
such. 

Again,  when  he  takes  a  metre  rule  and  measures  a  length 
as  x  metres, y  tenths  of  metres,  and  z  hundredths  of  metres, 


152        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

he  realizes  "  decimals"  as  something  for  his  eyes  to  see 
and  his  hands  to  use.  I  is  a  certain  length  that  can  be 
used,  and  -I  and  *oi  fixed  portions  of  it  to  be  used  in 
certain  eventualities. 

Let  us  give  one  further  striking  illustration  of  the 
same  point  from  geometry.  Usually  points,  lines, 
angles,  and  triangles  are  to  pupils  but  marks  on  the 
blackboard.  The  writer  well  remembers  some  time  ago 
asking  pupils  who  were  talking  glibly  about  an  isosceles 
triangle  to  name  some  objects  which  illustrated  that 
figure.  It  was  only  after  prolonged  and  pointed  sugges- 
tion that  such  examples  as  the  gable-end  of  a  house,  the 
roof  of  a  dog  kennel,  and  the  two  ends  of  a  straight  kite 
were  given.  Yet  probably  every  boy  in  the  class  had 
made  a  straight  kite  ;  all  knew  implicitly,  but  none  ex- 
plicitly, that  the  construction  rods  that  form  the  diagonals 
of  the  kite  were  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  and  that 
one  of  them  bisected  the  other.  An  isosceles  triangle  to 
that  class  had  only  meant  chalked  lines  on  a  blackboard. 
It  had  no  relation  to  anything  they  had  made  often, 
and  of  which  they  knew  most  of  the  properties  and  the 
method  of  construction.  When  geometry  becomes  an 
aspect  of  simple  practical  surveying,  then  points,  lines, 
angles  and  figures  will  cease  to  be  conventions  in  chalk. 
They  will  become  realities  of  position,  direction,  surface 
and  solid,  associated  with  and  involved  in  the  objects 
and  processes  of  everyday  life  and  work,  and  of  use  in 
practical  measurement  and  practical  construction. 

The  course  in  mathematics  suggested  above  stands  out 
in  striking  contrast  to  the  course  that  is  usual  to-day  in 
the  schools  of  the  working  class.  Setting  the  value, 
educational  and  practical,  of  the  two  side  by  side,  who 
can  doubt  as  to  which  an  earnest  teacher  would  choose? 
The  latter  awakens  little  interest,  has  little  practical  bear- 
ing on  artisan  life,  ^nd  has  none  but  a  negative  influence 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  153 

on  the  boy's  thoughts  of  a  future  career.  The  former 
interests  him,  because  it  uses  his  hands  as  well  as  his 
head,  and  it  has  a  value  to  him  because  he  sees  its  use 
and  gains  from  it  a  power  over  things  which  he  appreci- 
ates. The  writer  has  indelibly  stamped  on  his  memory 
his  impressions,  on  visiting  a  school,  of  a  class  of  artisan 
boys  engaged  in  practical  workshop  measurement.  Each 
had  his  own  practical  exercise  and  was  working  it  inde- 
pendently, and,  moreover,  without  supervision,  as  the 
teacher  was  fully  taken  up  with  his  visitor.  The  boys' 
earnestness  and  zeal,  their  care,  their  business-like 
methods,  their  evident  pleasure  in  their  work,  persist- 
ing without  cessation  through  a  period  of  an  hour  and  a 
half  without  any  consciousness  of  disciplinary  control 
and  absolutely  no  need  of  it,  gave  a  most  pleasant  shock. 
It  was  one  of  the  writer's  great  lessons  on  education. 

The  great  importance  to  the  nation  of  such  practical 
work  lies  in  its  power  to  awaken  and  direct  the  pupil's 
interest  in  skilled  work  and  his  ambition  to  engage  in  it. 
Too  many  boys  under  the  present  system  of  schooling 
are  ignorantly  and  unambitiously  content  to  leave  school 
with  no  higher  ideal  than  that  of  earning  a  few  shillings 
as  messengers  and  errand  boys.  It  is  here  that  the 
primary  school  of  to-day  must  own  itself  a  great  failure. 
It  arouses  no  interests  in,  no  ambition  for,  and  no  ideal 
of  skilled  work.  It  leaves  the  boy — as  far  as  practical 
manual  work  is  concerned — a  waster,  unless  the  home 
influence  counteracts  its  tendencies.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  is  to  the  inspiration  and  training  gained 
from  a  thorough  and  prolonged  course  of  handicrafts  and 
practical  mathematics  and  mechanics,  that  the  nation  and 
the  school  must  look  to  stimulate  the  innate  practical 
impulses  of  youth,  and  direct  them  towards  an  ideal  of 
artisan  manhood. 

We  have   urged  that  the  practical   exercises,    to  be 


154        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

educational,  should  develop  more  than  manual  dexterity, 
and  give  more  than  a  knowledge  of  materials  and  instru- 
ments. They  should  develop  the  power  to  adapt  skill 
and  knowledge  to  varying  circumstances.  To  do  this, 
pupils  should  face  each  exercise  in  the  attitude  of  inquiry, 
and  bring  initiative  and  ingenuity  to  bear  in  thinking  out 
modifications  of  general  modes  of  acting.  Too  often,  as 
we  have  already  remarked  with  respect  to  the  teaching 
of  other  branches,  the  mechanical  spirit  of  routine  and 
of  absorption  alone  are  induced.  Such  will  be  the  case 
when  the  pupils  work  practical  exercises  by  following 
definite  instructions  given  either  verbally  or  in  print. 
The  pupils  follow  the  instructions  frequently  without 
understanding  the  problem  or  the  method  of  working, 
and,  even  when  they  grasp  these,  they  hardly  ever  bring 
the  various  steps  together  as  a  whole  and  perceive  them 
in  relation  to  the  problem.  This  method  of  instruction 
is  educationally  vicious.  In  the  first  place,  the  exercise 
is  never  faced  by  the  pupils  as  a  problem  to  inquire  into. 
It  is  entered  upon  as  a  certain  routine  to  be  gone  through 
uninquiringly.  The  will  is  never  stimulated  to  cope  with 
difficulties,  nor  the  intelligence  excited  to  deal  with  them. 
And  without  such  stimulus,  there  is  no  discipline  of  the 
intellect  and  will. 

Class  teaching,  too,  is  open  to  a  somewhat  similar 
objection,  though  its  evil  effects  are  not  so  great.  In 
good  class  teaching  in  which  the  instruction  rises  beyond 
lecture,  the  teacher  and  the  class  work  out  the  inquiry 
by  co-operative  effort.  The  teacher,  by  questioning, 
directs  the  thoughts  of  the  pupils  to  an  insight  into  the 
peculiar  features  of  the  case,  and  by  hints,  largely  of  the 
nature  of  suggesting  comparisons  and  contrasts  with 
more  familiar  instances,  induces  them  to  think  out  a 
method  of  dealing  with  them.  Such  teaching,  it  must  be 
owned,  is  most  stimulating  to  class  and  to  teacher. 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  155 

There  is  nothing  more  exhilarating  to  a  teacher  than  to 
feel  his  class  responding  in  interested  effort  and  thought 
to  his  slightest  hint  and  to  his  leading  questions.  Be- 
cause of  this  tonic  effect  the  teacher  is  apt  to  overrate 
the  value  of  class  teaching.  The  structure,  so  beauti- 
fully and  swiftly  built,  is  often  on  a  foundation  of  shifting 
sand.  The  hard-hearted  critic  cannot  help  but  ask,  and 
with  much  justice,  how  much  of  pupils'  insight  and 
suggestion  there  would  be  if  the  teacher  were  not  there, 
and  to  what  extent  each  boy  could  independently  have 
even  begun  the  inquiry. 

Class  teaching  there  must  be.  A  boy  must  walk  before 
he  runs  ;  a  child  must  first  totter  stumblingly,  helped  and 
encouraged  by  his  mother,  before  he  walks ;  so,  too, 
with  the  first  stumbling  steps  of  the  boy's  intelligence. 
Class  teaching,  by  the  inspiration  of  the  teacher's  per- 
sonality, encourages  effort,  stimulates  the  imagination 
to  bolder  steps  and  longer  flights,  and  keeps  the  pupils 
progressing  continuously  in  the  right  direction  when,  if 
left  to  themselves,  they  would  fail  or  wander  hopelessly 
from  the  path.  Obviously,  though,  it  is  only  a  stepping- 
stone  to  the  method  by  which  each  pupil  attacks  his 
problem  for  himself  and  by  himself,  and  stands  almost 
wholly  on  his  own  feet.  All  good  teaching  shows  a 
steady  advance  to  the  climax  of  independent  individual 
work. 

All  teachers  who  have  had  experience  in  directing  the 
individual  work  of  pupils  in  a  practical  pursuit  are  only 
too  much  aware  of  the  great  difficulties  involved  in  it. 
Let  us  suppose  each  member  of  a  class  of  twenty-five 
boys  is  given  a  practical  exercise  different  from  that 
given  to  the  others,  and  required  to  work  it  out  inde- 
pendently. A  few,  perhaps,  accomplish  the  task  success- 
fully. A  few  others  arrive  at  a  result  in  some  haphazard 
and  circuitous  manner.  Many,  however,  break  down 


1 56        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

utterly ;  some  unable  to  begin  the  inquiry,  others  to 
deal  with  the  crucial  difficulties.  The  instructor  finds 
himself  utterly  unable  to  grapple  with  a  large  number 
of  failures,  and  in  despair  resorts  either  to  class  teaching 
in  which  each  step  is  worked  out  inductively  by  the  com- 
bined efforts  of  the  class  and  teacher  before  it  is  done 
practically,  or  to  the  method  of  giving  each  pupil  printed 
or  written  instructions.  Each  is  a  confession  of  failure. 
Some  way  must  be  found  of  giving  guidance  to  inde- 
pendent effort  without  a  personal  appeal  to  the  teacher. 
The  following  plan  is  suggested  as  a  workable  mode  of 
procedure. 

Let  each  pupil,  when  he  has  progressed  sufficiently  by 
class  teaching,  have  his  separate  problem  to  work  out  in- 
dependently, but,  instead  of  a  printed  or  written  paper  of 
instructions,  let  the  teacher  draw  up  a  series  of  queries  so 
as  to  suggest  to  the  pupil  a  line  of  thought  at  each 
crucial  stage  of  the  inquiry.  In  other  words,  the  teacher 
analyses  each  larger  problem  into  a  series  of  smaller  ones, 
arranged  so  as  to  suggest  the  main  line  of  thought.  Let 
it  be  noted,  however,  that  the  method  of  working  is  not 
suggested,  but  only  a  line  of  thought  leading  to  it. 

As  an  example,  suppose  the  main  problem  be  to  find 
the  amount  of  iron  in  a  casting  of  twenty  feet  of  fall  pipe 
similar  to  a  specimen  provided.  The  problem  might  be 
analysed  into  smaller  ones  as  follows : — 

1.  What  is  the  law  for  finding  the  volume  of  cylindrical 
solids  ? 

2.  How  will  you  find  the  cross-section  area  of — 

(a)  the  whole  pipe, 

(£)  the  bore, 

(c)  the  solid  portion  ? 

3.  What  measurements  will  you  take  from  which  to 
calculate  the  above  areas  ?     What  instruments  will  you 
use  and  what  degree  of  accuracy  is  possible  with  the 


THE  PRACTICAL  PURSUITS  157 

instrument  chosen  ?    Consider  whether  you  will  take  one 
measurement  or  find  an  average  of  several. 

4.  How  will  you  find  the  volume  of  20  feet,  knowing 
the  cross-section  area? 

5.  How  find  the  weight  knowing  the  volume  ? 

6.  If  D  and  d  respectively  be  the  external  and  internal 
diameters  of  the  fall  pipe  and  8  the  specific  gravity  of 
cast  iron,  write  down  an  expression  for  the  weight  of 
material  required  to  cast  /  feet. 

Sufficient  direction  is  here  given  for  any  boy  of  aver- 
age intelligence  to  work  out  the  problem  without  super- 
vision, provided  he  has  received  efficient  instruction  and 
practice  in  the  typical  case  of  finding  the  weight  and 
volume  of  a  regular  cylinder.  The  queries  guide  his 
thought  to  the  right  issues,  but  do  not  suggest  solutions. 
The  better  pupils  should,  of  course,  be  able  to  work  such 
a  problem  unaided.  Should,  however,  any  pupil  be  un- 
equal to  the  task,  the  list  of  queries  is  at  hand.  In  this 
way  the  teacher  avoids  the  insidious  evil  of  mechanical 
routine  and  the  fallacious  initiative  of  class  teaching. 
Each  pupil  has,  to  some  extent,  to  stand  on  his  own  feet, 
and  make  some  effort  to  stride  from  signpost  to  signpost. 
As  the  pupils  gain  power  with  varied  experience  and 
practice  they  will  be  able  to  make  the  whole  journey 
without  signposts  and  warnings,  as  scouts  in  a  strange 
country  travel  by  reading  the  marks  of  the  landscape. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS. 

PHYSICAL  pursuits  make  up  the  third  great  group  of 
school  occupations.  These,  like  the  practical  subjects, 
have  no  narrow  end  in  view.  They  aim  at  training  an 
aspect  of  manhood,  important  in  the  battle  of  life  and  to 
the  joy  of  living.  Each  of  the  three  great  branches  of 
the  curriculum  seeks  to  develop  in  the  pupil  the  virtues 
of  three  great  aspects  of  manhood.  The  culture  studies 
work  towards  a  manhood  of  intellectual  and  social  interests 
and  power ;  the  practical  aim  at  the  virtues  of  industrial 
manliness  ;  the  physical  seek  to  strengthen  those  qualities 
of  body  and  mind  that  are  needed  in  effective  struggle 
with  physical  force.  The  ideal  manhood  embraces  all 
these  aspects,  and  he  who  most  harmoniously  and  in 
justest  measure,  as  Plato  puts  it,  combines  them  in  his 
own  being,  shall  be  a  master  of  harmony  in  a  far  higher 
sense  than  the  musician  of  strings. 

Physical  manhood  has  in  it  attributes  akin  to  those 
of  the  manhood  of  industry.  Both  exhibit  their  powers 
in  masterful,  bodily  action.  But,  whereas  the  one  aims 
at  turning  the  forces  of  nature  by  knowledge,  intelligence, 
and  skill  to  useful  ends,  the  other  delights  in  contending 
with  them  and  mastering  them  for  the  very  joy  of  con- 
quest. To  use  Emerson's  phrase,  physical  manhood 
depends  on  "a  plus  condition  of  mind  and  body,  on 
power  of  work,  on  courage  ".  It  is  an  excess  of  virility, 
more  elemental,  more  akin  to  rude  animal  nature  than 

158 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  159 

the  practical,  barbaric  even  in  the  exercise  of  its  power 
for  the  delight  of  possessing  and  using  it.  It  is  dan- 
gerous and  destructive  when  not  held  in  leash  and  refined 
and  disciplined  by  the  milder  influences  of  culture  and 
utility. 

Destructive  and  dangerous  to  social  order,  utterly  in- 
dividualistic as  it  is,  yet  it  cannot  be  spared,  for  it  is  the 
human  force  that  conquers  the  world.  It  drove  the 
Northmen  as  conquerors  round  the  coasts  of  Europe.  It 
'•discovered  the  sea  routes  to  the  great  West  and  East. 
It  peopled  the  waste  places  of  the  world  with  hardy 
colonists.  We  see  it  in  our  mountaineers,  our  explorers, 
our  frontiersmen,  and,  in  embryo,  in  our  boy  scouts. 
Wherever  there  is  danger  from  man  or  beast,  wherever 
hardship  to  endure  from  heat  or  cold,  drought  or  famine, 
wherever  adventure,  there  you  will  find  these  splendid 
types  of  men,  muscular,  hardy,  enduring,  utterly  fearless, 
who,  like  Nelson  at  Copenhagen,  "  would  not  be  elsewhere 
for  thousands".  These  men  are  made  "for  war,  for 
mining,  hunting,  and  clearing,  for  hairbreadth  escapes, 
huge  risks,  and  the  joy  of  eventful  living  ".1 

This  type  of  manhood  is  one  we  pride  ourselves  is 
peculiarly  English,  and  even  foreigners  recognize  it  as  a 
distinctively  English  trait.  "  The  young  English  are 
fine  animals,  full  of  blood,  and,  when  they  have  no  wars 
to  breathe  their  riotous  valours  in,  they  seek  for  travels 
as  dangerous  as  war,  diving  into  maelstroms ;  swimming 
Hellesponts ;  wading  up  the  snowy  Himmaleh ;  hunting 
lion,  rhinoceros,  elephant  in  South  Africa;  gipsying 
with  Borrow  in  Spain  and  Algiers ;  riding  alligators  in 
South  America  with  Waterton  ;  utilizing  bedouin,  sheikh 
and  pasha  with  Layard;  yachting  among  icebergs  of 
Lancaster  Sound ;  peeping  into  craters  on  the  Equator ; 
or  running  on  the  creeses  of* Malays  in  Borneo."2 

1  Emerson*  2  Ibid.. 


160        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

An  analysis  of  physical  manhood  shows  us  qualities  of 
body,  intelligence,  and  character.  "  The  first  wealth  is 
health.  Sickness  is  poor-spirited,  and  cannot  serve  any- 
one ;  it  must  husband  its  resources  to  live.  But  health 
or  fulness  answers  its  own  ends,  and  has  to  spare,  runs 
over  and  inundates  the  neighbourhoods  and  creeks  of 
other  men's  necessities."1  The  ideal  of  physical  health 
and  strength  is  a  body  of  such  form  and  of  such  action 
as  inspired  the  heroic  sculpture  of  Ancient  Greece.  It 
is  an  ideal  paralleled  by  the  typical  English  sportsman 
of  to-day  whose  recreations  are  hunting,  riding,  shooting, 
and  rowing.  Its  marks  are  robust  health,  expansive 
chest,  broad  shoulders,  upright  carriage,  elasticity  of  step, 
freedom,  ease,  vigour,  quickness  and  sureness  of  move- 
ment, and  strength,  but  controlled  and  ready  for  any 
emergency. 

Closely  allied  to  the  physical  readiness  of  the  body  is 
the  mental  readiness  that  is  known  as  "  presence  of  mind  ". 
It  is  a  combination  of  alertness,  coolness,  and  resourceful- 
ness. It  is  the  power  to  rise  to  the  sudden  emergency, 
to  deal  quickly  and  effectively  with  the  startlingly  unex- 
pected. It  seizes  every  opportunity  that  chance  offers. 
In  its  more  active  and  imaginative  form,  it  is  enterprise 
beside  which,  as  Hafiz  says,  "  on  the  neck  of  the  young 
man  there  is  no  gem  so  gracious".  Enterprise  makes 
opportunities.  It  lives  always  between  the  present  and 
the  future,  with  its  hand  on  the  one  and  its  eye  on  the 
other,  planning,  constructing,  evolving  with  ceaseless  and 
tireless  energy. 

Behind  these  powers  of  strength  and  resource,  infusing 
them  with  an  almost  fierce,  joyous  energy,  is  the  fighting 
impulse  that  delights  in  contending  with  danger,  difficulty, 
and  hardship.  It  launches  out  enterprise  with  confident 
courage,  it  faces  danger  with  firm  resolution,  it  puts  its 

1  Emerson. 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  161 

back  to  the  wall  with  dogged  determination.  It  is,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  natural  impulse  that  makes  youth  en- 
joy football  and  wrestling,  snowballing  and  fighting, 
roughing  it  at  camp,  venturing  life  and  limb  on  the  ice 
and  rocks  of  the  Alps.  It  mans  our  life-boats,  fire- 
brigades,  and  territorial  forces.  In  industrial  and  com- 
mercial enterprise  it  takes  risks  with  cheerful  optimism, 
and  demands  success  by  its  confident  courage  and  tire- 
less energy.  In  all  walks  of  life  and  in  every  aspect  of 
life,  it  is  the  factor  that  wins  success,  that  never  knows 
it  is  beaten,  and  wrings  victory  out  of  the  jaws  of 
failure. 

Strength,  endurance,  resource,  and  hardy  courage  are 
the  qualities  that  have  been  most  prized  by  the  great  con- 
quering nations  of  the  earth ;  and  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  these  nations  has,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
by  purposive  discipline  or  recreative  play,  been  largely 
determined  by  this  ideal.  Such  nations  have  been  too 
wise,  or  shall  we  say  too  practical,  to  rely  only  on  a 
verbal  instruction  in  training  their  young.  The  young 
have  imbibed  an  admiration  for  the  strong  and  hardy 
virtues  from  song  and  story,  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample ;  but,  also,  the  elders  and  parents  have  disciplined 
their  boys  from  an  early  age  in  the  school  of  action. 
The  business  of  manhood  in  these  nations  was  war- 
fare, so  mimic  warfare  was  made  the  school  of  man- 
hood. 

Xenophon,  in  his  account  of  the  Ancient  Persians,  a 
picture  largely  imaginary  though  true  in  spirit,  declares 
the  Persians  esteemed  hunting,  "  as  the  truest  of  all 
trainings  for  war.  For,  in  fact,  it  inures  them  to  early 
rising  and  to  the  endurance  of  heat  and  cold,  while  it 
gives  them  exercise  in  marches  and  in  running,  too ; 
they  must  both  use  the  bow  and  shoot  the  dart 
against  a  wild  beast  wherever  it  falls  their  way.  Their 

ii 


162        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

courage,  too,  must  be  often  sharpened,  whenever  any  of 
the  strong  wild  beasts  confront  them."  l 

In  Ancient  Greece,  the  same  importance  was  attached 
to  the  sterner  qualities  of  body  and  mind,  qualities  that 
were  exhibited  in  Sparta  in  all  their  brutal  hardness  and 
ferocity,  but  were  softened  and  refined  at  Athens  by  the 
effects  of  intellectual  culture.  The  system  of  training 
organized  to  develop  the  Greek  type  of  hardy  manhood 
was  the  most  thorough  and  wonderful  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen. 

The  Spartan  training  was  directed  to  the  development 
of  hardness  of  character  and  hardness  of  body. 

"  Only  those  babies  that  gave  promise  of  strength 
were  allowed  to  live,  the  others  were  cast  out  on  the 
mountains  to  die  of  cold  and  neglect.  At  seven  years 
of  age  every  boy  was  sent  to  the  public  training  school, 
where  he  was  lodged  hardly,  clad  in  only  one  thin 
garment,  and  given  insufficient  food  that  he  might  learn 
to  forage  successfully  in  war  by  stealing  without  detec- 
tion what  he  needed  in  peace.  He  was  constantly 
trained  in  gymnastic  exercises,  and,  as  he  grew  older,  in 
those  of  war.  His  only  intellectual  education  was  music, 
and  that  of  a  stirring,  warlike  nature.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  he  went  to  a  military  barracks,  and  became 
essentially  a  soldier,  and  throughout  life  his  first  duty 
was  to  the  State. 

"  Not  content  with  the  fortitude  and  hardihood  which 
such  a  training  would  naturally  produce,  the  Spartans 
made  occasions  for  practice  in  bearing  pain.  The  boys 
were  beaten  yearly  before  the  altar  of  Artemis  till  their 
blood  soaked  the  ground."  2 

In  reflecting  on  such  an  education,  we  scan  agree  with 

l"  Cyropadeia,"  I,  i.  6-12.    Translation  by  W.  H.  Balgarnice. 
2"  Principles  of  Physical  Education,"  by  W.  P.  Welpton.    Chapter  on 
the  "  History  of  Physical  Education,"  by  Professor  Welton. 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  163 

Aristotle  when,  in  criticizing  the  Spartan  training,  he 
said :  "  He  praised  them  in  that  they  trained  their  men 
for  war,  he  blamed  them  in  that  they  trained  them  for 
nothing  else  ". 

Not  so  brutal  and  ferocious  in  its  effects  but  hardly 
less  strenuous,  was  the  course  of  physical  training  of  the 
Athenian  youth. 

Lucian  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  course  of  training : 
"We  develop  their  bodies  somewhat  as  follows:  we 
strip  them  of  their  clothing ;  and,  as  I  remarked  before, 
they  are  no  longer  delicate,  and  yet  are  not  sufficiently 
compact  for  their  life's  work.  We  consider  that  the  first 
step  is  to  accustom  them  to  the  air;  to  render  their 
bodies  inured  to  each  season,  that  neither  with  the  heat 
they  may  be  troubled,  nor  may  become  exhausted  from 
the  frost.  Next,  we  anoint  their  bodies  with  oil  to  soften 
them  and  to  make  them  more  sinewy.  .  .  .  After  this,  we 
devise  various  kinds  of  gymnastic  exercises  and  place 
directors  over  each.  We  teach  one  to  box,  and  another  the 
pancratian  contest.1  We  do  this  that  they  may  become 
accustomed  to  endure  hardships  manfully,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  avoid  blows,  and  that  not  from  fear  of 
wounds  they  be  turned  back  from  their  purpose. 

"  This  discipline  works  out  in  them  two  very  important 
qualities  that  are  of  great  value  to  us.  They  are  prepared 
to  be  courageous  in  danger  and  to  take  little  account  of 
their  bodies,  but  above  all,  their  bodies  become  stout  and 
capable  of  endurance.  Further,  those  who  catch  falls 
in  wrestling  learn  to  fall  with  safety,  easily  to  rise  again, 
to  push,  to  embrace,  to  twist,  to  be  able  to  endure 
strangling,  and  to  send  their  antagonists  into  the  air; 

1The  pancratian  contest  was  a  mixture  of  boxing  and  wrestling.  It 
was  a  dangerous  contest,  and  the  exercise  was  very  severe.  Carefully 
regulated  by  the  paidotribes  or  instructors,  the  exercise  seldom  resulted 
in  serious  injury. 

* 


1 64       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

nor  do  those  who  exercise  regard  this  part  as  useless, 
but  without  hesitation  they  grasp  the  first  strong  man 
they  meet,  even  the  very  strongest.  In  this  way  their 
bodies  are  hardened  to  suffering,  and  by  constant  toil 
become  more  robust.  .  .  . 

"  Our  young  men  are  tinged  a  dusky  red  by  the  sun, 
are  masculine,  have  much  spirit,  show  great  zeal  and 
manly  courage,  and,  furthermore,  enjoy  excellent  health. 
.  .  .  You  may  depend  upon  it,  only  after  long  labour 
would  he  who  has  been  subject  to  this  training  sweat, 
and  very  rarely  would  he  show  signs  of  weakness.  .  .  . 
So  likewise,  if  disease  and  fatigue  should  unexpectedly 
attack  such  a  body  as  our  young  men  possess,  they  could 
neither  readily  dishonour  it  nor  easily  conquer  it.  ... 
In  fact,  previous  toil  and  pain  have  produced  no  loss  of 
strength,  but  an  increase,  and  that  strength  by  being 
rekindled  has  become  greater  still. 

"  We  train  our  young  men  to  run  also  ;  we  accustom 
them  to  endurance  in  a  long  race,  and  encourage  them  to 
make  a  short  distance  in  the  quickest  time.  .  .  . 
In  addition  to  this,  we  exercise  them  in  leaping  ditches, 
if  thought  necessary,  or  any  other  impediments,  even 
with  their  hands  filled  with  leaden  weights.  They  con- 
test, further,  in  throwing  the  javelin  to  a  long  distance. 
Now,  I  believe  you  noticed  something  else  in  the  gym- 
nasium. The  object  was  of  brass,  and  was  rounded 
somewhat  like  a  small  shield,  but  it  was  without  either 
handle  or  band.  You  examined  it  as  it  lay  in  the  court. 
You  thought  it  heavy,  and  from  its  smoothness  hard  to 
grasp.  That,  too,  they  raise  in  the  air,  and  throw  it  to 
as  great  a  distance  as  possible.  Him  who,  by  throwing 
the  plate  (i.e.  the  discus  or  quoit)  the  farthest,  surpasses 
the  others  we  honour.  This  exercise  strengthens  their 
shoulders,  and  puts  sinews  in  their  toes. 

"  Now,   my  friend,    if  you  will    listen,    I    shall    ex- 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  165 

plain  why  the  mud  and  the  dust,  which  at  first  seemed 
to  you  very  ridiculous,  were  thrown  down.  In  the  first 
place,  that  the  fall  of  the  young  men  may  not  be  hard, 
but  that  upon  a  soft  surface  they  may  be  thrown  with 
safety.  Then  it  is  necessary  that  the  slipperiness  of 
men  sweating  in  the  mud  become  greater — a  slipperiness 
which  you  likened  to  that  of  eels.  We  regard  this  also 
neither  useless  nor  ridiculous.  Whenever  the  contestants 
are  compelled  in  this  condition  to  seize  one  another  with 
the  vigour  of  antagonists,  and  to  hold  those  who  are 
slipping  from  them,  this  effort  lends  not  a  little  to  the 
development  of  their  strength  and  sinew.  To  grasp  a 
person  that  is  sweating  in  mud  and  oil,  and  to  throw 
him  while  he  is  slipping  hastily  from  your  hands,  is  not 
a  small  thing  to  do.  And,  as  I  said  before,  all  these 
practices  are  especially  useful  in  time  of  war  against  our 
enemies ;  for  instance,  if  it  be  necessary  at  any  time  to 
catch  a  wounded  friend,  and  at  once  to  bear  him  away, 
or  to  come  upon  an  enemy  unawares,  to  grasp  him  while 
surprised,  and  to  secure  him.  That,  while  anticipating 
harder  trials,  our  young  men  may  bear  smaller  tasks  with 
far  greater  contentment,  we  train  them  somewhat  to 
excess.  .  .  . 

"  These  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  we  subject  our 
young  men  to  exercise.  We  expect  them  to  become  a 
noble  guard  to  our  body  politic,  and  that  through  their 
protection  we  shall  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty. 
Should  our  enemies  invade  our  territory,  these  will  con- 
quer them.  In  fact,  to  such  an  extent  are  they  now  a 
fear  to  our  neighbours  that  most  of  the  States  are  in 
awe  of  us  and  pay  tribute.  In  time  of  peace  we  can 
manage  much  better  those  who  are  elated  by  nothing 
disgraceful.  Nor  are  our  young  men  thus  turned  from 
idleness  to  wantonness,  but  in  such  pursuits  as  these 
they  wear  away  their  leisure.  Finally,  whenever  we  can 


1 66        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

say  that  our  youth,  both  in  peace  and  in  war,  are  fitted 
to  do  the  noblest  deeds,  that  they  appear  zealous  for 
our  highest  honour,  then  we  possess  that  which  I  spoke 
of  as  the  common  weal,  as  the  happy  culmination  of  our 
civil  prosperity."1 

We  have  given  at  such  length  the  details  of  the  train- 
ing of  the  youth  of  Ancient  Greece,  and  the  purpose  of 
them  for  two  reasons.  First,  it  stands  out  in  such 
striking  contrast  to  the  puerile,  nay  effeminate,  efforts  of 
the  primary  school  of  to-day,  to  train  hardy,  manly  boys. 
When  one  notices  the  number  of  youths  who  have  left 
school  slouching  aimlessly  along  the  streets,  loafing  at 
street  corners,  gambling  in  back  alleys,  who  are  narrow 
chested,  weedy,  unable  to  bear  fatigue,  afraid  of  exertion, 
and  frightened  of  physical  pain,  one  cannot  but  conclude 
that  some  such  discipline  as  hardened  the  youth  of 
Ancient  Greece  would  have  made  better  men  of  them  in 
character  as  well  as  in  body.  Second,  the  details  of  the 
training — with  such  modifications  as  our  climate,  our 
different  tastes,  and  our  more  strenuous  industrial  con- 
ditions suggest — are  such  as  we  would  desire  to  see 
practised  in  our  schools.  Running,  leaping,  boxing, 
wrestling,  tug-of-war,  football,  cricket,  hockey,  fives, 
hand-ball,  throwing  the  quoit,  camping,  scouting,  if 
introduced  and  practised  seriously  in  our  schools,  would 
be  an  admirable  modern  substitute  for  the  exercises  of 
Ancient  Greece. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  illustrate  further  from  history  the 
kind  of  training  that  has  proved  successful  in  the  past  in 
developing  a  hardy,  manly  type  of  character.  The 
principle  of  them  all  is  training  through  an  active  out- 
door life  by  mimic  warfare,  contests,  struggling  games, 
hunting,  sports,  and  the  like.  We  cannot,  however, 
refrain  from  quoting  a  striking  passage  in  illustration  of 

1  Anacharsis. 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  167 

our  point  from  that  epic  of  the  American  pioneer,  "  The 
Blazed  Trail/'  by  Mr.  E.  S.  White.  In  it  he  gives  a  vivid 
picture  of  physical  manhood,  though  unrefined  by  any 
culture,  that  is  to  be  met  with  on  the  borders  of  civilization 
in  the  forests  around  the  great  lakes.  Describing  the 
American  pioneer,  Mr.  White  says:  He  is  "resourceful, 
self-reliant,  bold  ;  adapting  himself  with  fluidity  to  diverse 
circumstances  and  conditions  ;  meeting  with  equal  cheer- 
fulness of  confidence  and  completeness  of  capability  both 
unknown  dangers  and  the  perils  by  which  he  has  been 
educated ;  seizing  the  useful  in  the  lives  of  the  beasts 
and  men  nearest  him,  and  assimilating  it  with  marvellous 
rapidity  ;  he  presents  to  the  world  a  picture  of  complete 
adequacy  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  match  in  any 
other  walk  of  life.  He  is  a  strong  man,  with  a  strong 
man's  virtues,  and  a  strong  man's  vices.  In  him  the 
passions  are  elemental,  the  dramas  epic,  for  he  lives  in 
the  age  when  men  are  close  to  nature,  and  draw  from 
her  their  forces.  He  satisfies  his  needs  direct  from  the 
earth.  Stripped  of  all  the  towns  can  give  him,  he  merely 
resorts  to  a  facile  substitution.  It  becomes  an  affair  of 
raw  hide  for  leather,  buckskin  for  cloth,  venison  for  canned 
tomatoes.  We  feel  that  his  steps  are  planted  on  solid 
earth,  for  -civilizations  may  crumble  without  disturbing 
his  magnificent  self-poise.  .  .  .  He  has  something  about 
him  which  other  men  do  not  possess — a  frank  clearness 
of  the  eye,  a  swing  of  the  shoulder,  a  carriage  of  the 
hips,  a  tilt  of  the  hat,  an  air  of  muscular  well-being — 
which  marks  him  as  belonging  to  the  advance  guard, 
whether  he  wears  buckskin,  mackinaw,  sombrero,  or 
broadcloth." 

And  what  is  the  training  that  has  produced  this 
splendid  type  of  physical  manhood  ?  "  He  had  faced 
almost  certain  death  a  dozen  times  a  day.  He  had 
ridden  logs  down  the  rapids  where  a  loss  of  balance 


1 68        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

meant  in  one  instant  a  ducking,  and  in  the  next  a  blow 
on  the  back  from  some  following  battering-ram ;  he  had 
tugged  and  strained  and  jerked  with  his  peavey  under  a 
sheer  wall  of  tangled  timber  twenty  feet  high — behind 
which  pressed  the  full  power  of  the  freshet — only  to 
jump  with  the  agility  of  a  cat  from  one  bit  of  unstable 
timber  to  another  when  the  first  sharp  crack  warned  him 
that  he  had  done  his  work,  and  that  the  whole  mass  was 
about  to  break  down  on  him  like  a  wave  on  the  shore  ; 
he  had  worked  fourteen  hours  a  day  in  ice-water, 
and  had  slept  damp  ;  he  had  pried  at  the  key  log  in  the 
rollways  on  the  bank  until  the  whole  pile  had  begun  to 
rattle  down  into  the  river  like  a  cascade,  and  had  jumped, 
or  ridden,  or  even  dived  out  of  danger  at  the  last  second. 
In  a  hundred  passes  he  had  juggled  with  death  as  a  child 
plays  with  a  rubber  balloon.  .  .  .  No  wonder  that  he 
fears  no  man,  since  nature's  most  terrible  forces  of  the 
flood  have  hurled  a  thousand  weapons  at  him  in  vain. 
His  muscles  have  been  hardened,  his  eye  is  quiet  and 
sure,  his  courage  is  undaunted,  and  his  movements  are  as 
quick  and  accurate  as  a  panther's.  Probably  nowhere  in 
the  world  is  a  more  dangerous  man  of  his  hands  than  the 
riverman." 

The  school  of  the  pioneer  is  a  rough  and  hard  one, 
and  a  rough  diamond  is  he,  but  he  is  a  diamond  of  the 
first  water.  He  lacks  the  refining,  softening  graces  that 
culture  would  give  him,  but  he  has  won  in  hard  strife 
with  the  giant  forces  of  nature  the  first  of  all  qualities  of 
a  great  nation — physical  manhood,  which  if  a  nation 
forgets  and  turns  away  from,  the  beginning  of  her  fall  is 
near  at  hand. 

Many  of  the  higher  culture  and  of  sentimental  human- 
ism will  scoff:  what  have  England  and  twentieth  century 
civilization  to  do  with  such  elemental,  brute  passions  and 
forces  ?  England,  it  is  true,  has  no  need  of  lumbermen, 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  169 

but  she  has  need  of  such  a  manhood  to  fight  her  battles 
on  sea  and  land,  of  resolute  pioneers  to  spread  her  em- 
pire in  the  waste  places  of  the  earth,  and  of  hardy,  enter- 
prising colonists  to  people  them,  and,  at  home,  in  the 
ranks  of  industry,  she  needs  fighters.  Industry,  no  less 
than  war  and  empire,  must  have  to  wield  her  weapons 
of  peace,  hardy  frames,  resourceful  wits,  and  resolute 
courage.  Nor  can  England  spare  from  any  of  her 
citizens  the  sturdy  independence,  confident  self-reliance, 
and  stubborn  grit  that  have  made  her  what  she  is,  and  that 
are  not  fostered  in  the  school  of  higher  culture. 

England,  if  she  is  to  hold  her  place  as  the  great  civiliz- 
ing and  colonizing  nation  of  the  modern  world,  must  train 
her  youth  to  take  their  place  in  the  nation  and  empire, 
as  citizens,  workers,  and  colonists,  strong,  skilful,  resource- 
ful, independent,  and  resolute.  Her  youth  must  win  their 
manhood — in  the  only  way  it  can  be  acquired — by  hard 
experience  in  mimic  warfare,  contests,  struggling  games, 
and  a  rough,  hard  life  in  the  open  air.  Much  as  we  ad- 
mire culture,  much  as  we  would  give  our  youth  the 
sweetening  refinements  of  manners,  intellectual  interests 
and  social  activity,  we  cannot  help  but  recognize  in  the 
broad  educational  perspective  that  the  first  need  of  a  great 
expanding,  industrial  nation  is  physical  manhood,  and 
the  first  educational  claim  on  its  schools  is  the  means  to 
attain  to  it. 

The  essential  characteristics  of  the  physical  education 
of  schools,  then,  should  be : — 

1.  Vigorous  exercise  in  the  open  air  to  secure  health 
and  strength. 

2.  Variety  of  physical  action  to  develop  agility. 

3.  Rough    handling,  struggling,  blows,  bruises,    and 
hardship  to  cultivate  endurance. 

4.  Strife: — 

(a)  Strife  of  physical  strength  to  harden  the  frame. 


i;o       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

(ff)  Strife  of  wits  to  call  out  alertness,  coolness  and 
resource. 

(V)  Strife  of  wills  to  stimulate  courage  and  resolution. 
That  physical  exercises  and  drills  fail  to  satisfy  this 
criterion  is  obvious,  but  must  be  pressed  home  in  view  of 
the  almost  universal  practice  of  primary  schools  to-day. 
It  is  folly  to  imagine  that  a  great  nation  can  entrust  the 
development  of  its  manhood  to  so  feeble  and  effeminate 
an  educational  contrivance.  Moving  the  body  and  limbs 
at  the  word  of  command  can  serve  as  a  daily,  mild,  physi- 
cal tonic  to  counteract  in  some  measure  the  daily  overdose 
of  sedentary  poison,  but  it  needs  something  harder,  more 
vigorous,  more  spontaneous,  with  more  grip  on  the  physi- 
cal impulses  to  secure  the  end  we  have  outlined  above. 
Considered  only  in  regard  to  the  training  of  health 
and  physical  movement,  games  and  contests  are  vastly 
superior  to  exercises.  Compare  the  movements  of  a 
class  of  boys  who,  during  a  gymnasium  lesson,  spend  half 
the  period  at  formal  exercises,  and  the  other  half  at  some 
such  gymnasium  game  as  hand-ball.  During  the  exercises 
the  movements  are  all  regularly  prescribed,  repeated  a 
number  of  times  with  monotonous  routine,  then  changed 
to  another  series  similarly  prescribed,  and  repeated  with 
a  similar  monotony.  There  is  no  freedom,  no  spontane- 
ity, no  variety,  no  unexpected,  no  emergency,  no  play  of 
mind. 

During  the  game,  on  the  other  hand,  each  boy  is  con- 
tinually stooping  and  raising  himself,  bending  forward  and 
backward,  twisting  to  this  side  and  that,  wriggling, 
struggling,  pushing,  running,  stopping,  turning,  throwing 
above  and  below,  to  right  and  left,  forward  and  backward. 
There  is  no  movement  that  is  prescribed  in  the  routine 
of  exercises  that,  in  such  a  game,  is  not  made  many  times 
over  with  a  spontaneity,  freedom,  and  elasticity  that  no 
routine  exercise  can  compass.  Every  muscle  in  the  body 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  171 

is  brought  into  continued  and  varied  action  with  a  vigour 
and  keenness  that  stimulate  the  bodily  functions  in  a  more 
intense  way  than  does  many  times  the  amount  of  mechani- 
cal exercise  that  awakens  no  enthusiasm  and  effort.  In 
their  effect  on  health,  and  in  developing  power  of  muscular 
action,  games  and  contests  stand  far  above  physical  drills 
and  exercises. 

Moreover,  in  all  that  goes  to  the  training  of  agility  and 
skill  of  general  bodily  activity,  games  and  contests  are 
superior  to  exercises.  The  sequence  of  movements  in 
games  is  not  prescribed  and  organized  on  any  methodi- 
cally progressive  plan.  The  circumstances  of  the  game 
change  unexpectedly  from  moment  to  moment,  and  the 
movements  of  the  contestants  must,  in  like  manner,  change 
continuously  so  as  to  meet  as  effectively  as  possible  the 
changing  circumstances.  Continuous  adaptation  is  the 
essential  feature  in  games  and  contests,  as  it  is  in  the 
actions  of  real  life.  Adaptation,  however,  means  the  cor- 
relative action  of  the  organs  of  sense  with  those  of  move- 
ment. Sight,  hearing,  touch,  and  the  hardly  conscious 
muscular  sensations  by  which  one  feels  rather  than  per- 
ceives the  force,  rapidity,  and  direction  of  movement  have 
to  guide  the  muscles  to  right  action.  On  the  one  side 
there  must  be  alertness  of  perceptual  attention,  quickness 
in  interpreting  signs,  and  readiness  to  suggest  action. 
Perceptual  concentration  in  playing  games  and  in  engag- 
ing in  contests  is  a  characteristic  without  which  there  can 
be  no  success.  A  fencer,  no  matter  how  expert,  cannot 
relax  his  attention  for  a  single  moment  from  the  eyes  and 
movements  of  his  antagonist.  Each  glance,  each  gesture, 
each  change  of  attitude,  every  fluctuation,  too,  of  the  pres- 
sure of  the  foil  have  instantly  to  be  interpreted,  and  the 
mind  held  ready  to  meet  the  expected  attack.  On  the 
side  of  movement,  there  must  be  muscular  readiness  to  re- 
spond quickly  and  accurately.  What  the  intelligence  has 


172        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

foreseen  through  the  acuteness  of  the  senses,  the  muscles 
must  be  prepared  to  deal  with  at  the  right  instant.  Senses 
and  muscles  must  act  in  perfect  unison  as  correlative  parts 
of  an  organic  machine.  Such  harmony  of  action,  auto- 
matic in  its  perfection,  is  the  result  only  of  constant 
practice.  It  is  when  the  hand  has  responded  to  the  eye 
many  times,  in  many  varied  circumstances,  and  by  as 
many  varied  kinds  of  movements,  that  the  sudden  emer- 
gency will  be  met  by  an  action  that  is  instant,  sure,  and 
effective — and  in  saying  the  "  eye  "  and  "  hand,"  we  speak 
symbolically  of  the  whole  senses  and  the  whole  muscular 
frame. 

Physical  exercises  and  drills  cannot  develop  such  per- 
fection of  adaptive  correlation  of  senses  and  muscles  as  is 
outlined  above.  In  their  performance  perceptual  atten- 
tion is  at  a  minimum.  Their  methodically  graded  pro- 
gression and  their  monotonous  repetition  are,  in  this 
respect,  not  an  advantage,  but  a  positive  hindrance.  As 
well  might  we  hope  to  train  a  fencer  by  never  allowing 
him  to  meet  an  opponent,  or  a  pianist  by  practising  scales 
alone,  as  produce  quickness,  sureness,  and  effectiveness 
of  general  physical  adaptation  by  exercises  mechanically 
performed. 

Not  only  is  there  in  the  movements  in  playing  games 
correlation  of  the  organs  of  sense  and  movement,  there 
is  also  a  co-ordination — an  acting  together — of  muscle  and 
muscle,  or  rather  of  groups  of  muscles  with  each  other. 
For  example,  in  a  boy's  picking  up  a  ball  bouncing  from 
the  ground,  turning,  and  passing  it  straight  and  surely  to 
the  arms  of  a  comrade,  there  is  hardly  a  muscle  of  his 
body  that  has  not  contracted  and  relaxed  many  times 
just  to  the  right  amount,  with  the  right  force,  and  at  the 
right  moment.  On  the  perfection  of  such  co-ordination 
depend  the  ease,  smoothness,  quickness,  and  accuracy 
of  the  whole  action.  When  muscle  does  not  act  with 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  173 

muscle  in  perfect  accord,  there  follow  clumsiness,  awkward- 
ness, waste  of  power,  and  consequent  failure  in  result. 

To  some  extent  exercises  train  this  co-ordinating  power, 
for  many  of  their  movements  are  complex,  requiring 
limbs  and  body  to  act  in  harmony.  For  example,  if  the 
arm  is  to  make  a  well-delivered  blow  or  lunge,  as  in 
lunging  exercises,  it  must  have  behind  it  the  weight  of 
the  body  swinging  from  the  fulcrum  of  the  hips,  the  body 
must  be  firmly  yet  freely  balanced  on  the  legs,  and  the 
whole  frame  must  be  knit  together  by  muscular  contraction 
into  a  firmly  welded,  yet  freely  moving,  jointed  machine. 
And  this  obviously  requires  the  co-ordinated  action  of 
the  muscles  of  the  whole  frame. 

In  training  efficiency  of  muscular  co-ordination,  games 
and  contests  are  again  superior  to  exercises,  and  again 
the  superiority  lies  in  the  continuously  changing  adaptative 
movements  that  games  exhibit.  For  example,  a  fencer 
lunging  against  an  opponent  may  find  he  has  to  spring 
back  to  avoid  an  unexpected  counter.  A  batsman  pre- 
pared to  drive  the  ball  may,  owing  to  an  unexpected 
break,  shoot  or  spin  of  the  ball,  be  compelled  to  defend 
his  wicket.  Thus  in  games  and  contests  the  muscular 
system  has  to  be  ready,  not  only  to  carry  out  the  action 
intended,  but  to  be  under  such  control  as  to  be  able  to 
modify  or  arrest  the  action  and  to  engage  immediately  in 
a  totally  different  one.  In  other  words,  in  games  and 
contests  the  muscular  system  has  to  be  ready  for  emer- 
gency ;  in  exercises  it  carries  through  a  series  of  pre- 
scribed movements  in  a  routine  manner  to  a  familiar  end. 

Thus,  the  methodical  system  and  the  graded  progres- 
sion of  exercises  that  their  advocates  so  highly  praise 
are,  in  the  light  of  careful  analysis,  seen  to  be  positive 
disadvantages.  The  advocates  of  exercises  may  claim  a 
scientific  basis  for  them,  but  that  basis  is  physiological 
and  anatomical,  and  not  educational.  Education  begins 


174        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

with  an  analysis  of  the  result  to  be  attained,  and  uses 
physiology  and  anatomy  in  devising  the  means  to  accom- 
plish it.  When  physiology  and  anatomy  determine  the 
beginning,  the  means,  and  the  end,  they  are  no  longer 
servants  but  masters,  and  the  result  is  not  educational 
efficiency  but  educational  disaster. 

The  games  and  contests  that  are  especially  advanta- 
geous in  training  a  varied  correlation  and  co-ordination 
for  adaptative  action  are  :  batting  and  bowling  in  cricket, 
throwing  in  to  the  wicket,  single-stick,  boxing,  hockey, 
fives  or  rackets,  hand-ball,  and  association  football. 
Wrestling,  football  (Rugby),  hockey,  boxing,  and  single- 
stick are  valuable  exercises  for  the  development  of  hardi- 
hood, courage,  arid  resolution.  Wrestling  and  Rugby 
football  are  good  also  for  developing  general  physical 
strength,  as  are  most  struggling  games. 

Since  few  primary  schools  are  supplied  with  playing 
fields,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  extreme  urgency  to  organize 
a  number  of  games  and  contests  appropriate  for  the  play- 
ground and  school  gymnasium.  Every  primary  school 
should  have  attached  to  it  a  large  hall  or  covered  space  that 
can  be  used  in  all  weathers  for  games  and  contests.  The 
apparatus  necessary  is  not  great.  There  are  required 
several  mats,  ropes,  a  vaulting  horse  and  jumping  stand, 
besides  the  necessary  instruments  used  in  the  contests 
and  games.  The  following  games  and  contests  are  sug- 
gested as  a  groundwork  : — 

Boxing,  punch  ball,  wrestling,  single-stick,  tug-of-war. 

Running,  jumping,  leaping,  vaulting,  and  rope  climbing 
contests. 

Hand-ball,  throwing  a  football  round  and  across  a  ring 
of  boys,  and  gymnasium  ball  games. 

Gymnasium  quoits  and  throwing  coils  of  rope  (lassoing). 

The  last  two  exercises  suggested  above  are  seldom 
practised  in  school  gymnasiums,  yet  they  are  excellent 


THE  PHYSICAL  PURSUITS  175 

for  training  the  eye  and  arm  to  act  in  unison.  Moreover, 
they  are  good  for  promoting  a  free  and  elastic  carriage 
of  the  body. 

In  all  the  above  games  and  contests,  the  attitude  and 
carriage  of  the  body  as  a  whole  are  important  factors  in 
success.  The  momentum  of  the  body  should  always  be 
used  to  enforce  the  action  that  is  being  carried  out,  and 
the  body  should  be  freely  held  on  the  hips  and  supported 
firmly  on  the  feet,  or  the  action  will  be  feeble.  Moreover, 
in  the  swing  of  the  body  backwards  and  forwards,  to  right 
and  to  left,  the  free  action  of  the  joints  of  the  toes,  ankles, 
knees,  and  hips  is  most  important.  In  all  such  matters 
as  correct  attitude,  carriage,  action,  and  breathing, 
the  pupils  should  receive  instruction  and  practice.  In- 
deed, the  instructor  would  do  well  to  devise  a  series  of 
exercises  and  simple  games,  embracing  the  more  important 
of  these  elements  of  good  action,  and  practise  the  pupils 
in  them  until  they  have  reached  some  measure  of  perfec- 
tion in  performing  them.  Exercises  such  as  lunging  and 
guarding  in  fencing,  running  with  correct  attitude,  and 
the  like,  have  their  value  as  propaedeutics  to  the  games 
and  contests  in  which  they  will  be  used.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  exercises  such  as  these  do  not, 
in  themselves,  make  up  a  complete  physical  training. 
They  are  to  games  and  contests  what  scale  practice  is  to 
pianoforte  playing.  They  practise  those  elements  of 
skilled  action  which  should  afterwards  be  used  against 
an  opponent,  when  quick  and  sure  adaptation  to  changing 
circumstances  is  a  vital  factor  in  success. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HEALTH. 

ROBUST  health  is  of  the  first  importance  in  life.  It  is  a 
great  asset  in  the  vigour  of  physical  action,  in  the  power 
of  mental  work,  and  in  the  joy  of  living.  In  health, 
the  organs  that  nourish  the  body  and  minister  to  its  life 
and  growth  respond  to  the  demands  on  them  with  easy 
vigour,  and  the  muscular  and  nervous  systems  are  corre- 
spondingly energized.  There  is  in  health,  to  use  Emer- 
son's phrase,  "  a  plus  condition  of  mind  and  body,  in 
power  of  work,  in  courage  ...  an  excess  of  virility". 
In  health,  movement  is  performed  more  readily,  swiftly, 
and  surely  than  in  ill-health  and  weakness  ;  it  is  more 
forceful  and  controlled ;  the  muscles  have  greater  power 
of  work,  greater  latent  energy  to  rise  to  sudden  and 
violent  calls  on  them,  and  larger  resources  to  withstand 
fatigue,  and  to  recuperate  from  the  exhausting  effects  of 
prolonged  or  severe  effort ;  mental  work,  too,  is  entered 
on  with  greater  zest,  there  is  greater  power  of  concentra- 
tion and  persistence,  more  elasticity  and  verve;  more 
than  all,  the  whole  tone  of  consciousness  is  coloured  with 
brighter  and  warmer  tints,  courage  is  more  confident, 
and  the  spirits  more  cheerful  and  optimistic.  There  is  a 
good  deal  in  the  old  theory  that  courage  depends  on  the 
circulation  of  the  blood.  Undoubtedly,  it  is  true  that, 
when  the  circulation  is  feeble  and  sluggish,  the  outlook 
on  life  is  dark,  timid,  melancholic,  and  pessimistic,  and, 
when  the  circulation  is  vigorous,  the  note  of  life  rings 
with  more  cheerful,  bright,  and  courageous  tones. 

176 


HEALTH  177 

Health  being  so  important  a  factor  in  work  either  of 
body  or  of  mind,  and  having  so  decided  an  effect  on 
temperament,  it  is  essential  that  those  engaged  in  educa- 
tional effort  either  as  administrators  or  as  teachers  should 
grasp  with  bold  clearness  the  main  conditions  that  deter- 
mine healthy  life  and  growth,  and  the  effect  of  these  on 
the  power  and  skill  of  physical  action  and  on  the  vigour 
and  tone  of  mental  life. 

As  the  work  of  a  household  is  shared  between  man 
and  wife,  the  husband  attending  to  external  relations,  and 
the  wife  concerning  herself  with  internal  affairs,  so  the 
work  of  the  human  body  is  shared  between  two  parts  of 
it.  One,  the  executive  system,  has  its  activity  directed 
towards  the  external  environment  in  perception  and  in 
movement ;  the  other,  the  organic  system,  is  concerned 
with  the  internal  economy  of  life,  health,  and  growth. 

The  executive  system  consists,  on  the  one  side,  of  the 
sense  organs  of  sight,  hearing,  taste,  smell,  touch,  and  the 
sense  of  movement,  and  on  the  other  of  the  muscles  sup- 
ported by  the  bony  framework,  and  attached  to  it  by 
sinews.  The  sense  organs  are  the  "  eyes  "  of  the  mind 
by  which  it  is  kept  informed  by  sense  impressions  of 
the  nature  and  movements  of  external  things.  The 
muscles,  bones,  and  sinews  are  its  "  hands  "  to  perform 
the  physical  work  it  wills.  So  that  the  two  parts  of  the 
executive  system  can  work  together,  they  are  brought  into 
connexion  with  each  other  by  means  of  the  central  nerv- 
ous system.  The  central  nervous  system  consists  of  a 
number  of  nerve  centres  in  the  brain  and  spinal  cord, 
from  which  centres  are  controlled  the  various  kinds  of 
activities  performed  by  the  body.  Nerve  fibres  connect 
the  nerve  centres  to  the  different  sense  organs  and  muscles 
concerned  in  the  activity,  and,  also,  the  nerve  centres  with 
each  other,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  often  need  for 
many  activities  to  be  combined  into  united  action, 

12 


PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Thus,  though  each  elementary  activity  has  its  own  centres 
of  control,  yet  the  whole  of  the  sense  organs  and  muscles 
can  be  brought  into  correlated  and  co-ordinated  action  by 
means  of  the  connecting  nerve  fibres  that  bind  all  the 
centres  in  brain  and  cord  into  an  organic  working  unity. 

In  the  "  highest "  brain  is  a  collection  of  nerve  centres, 
the  activity  of  which  has  a  mental  as  well  as  a  physical 
aspect  All  the  sense  organs  by  means  of  nerve  fibres 
send  messages  to  these  centres,  so  that  we  have  mental 
impressions  of  sight,  hearing,  and  the  like,  for  intelligence 
to  interpret  by  the  aid  of  past  experience.  Nerve  tracks, 
too,  go  from  these  higher  centres  of  consciousness  to  all 
the  muscles,  so  that  physical  action  can  be  under  the 
control  of  the  will.  All  messages  or  nerve  currents  from 
senses  to  muscles  transmitted  through  the  centres  of 
consciousness  are  modified  by  the  action  of  will  acting 
under  the  influence  of  intelligence  and  feeling.  Some 
are  intensified ;  some  weakened,  or  altogether  inhibited  ; 
others  are  modified  in  their  character. 

The  nervous  system,  then,  is  the  organizing  machinery 
for  all  the  activities,  mental  and  physical,  of  the  human 
being.  On  its  power  depend  the  nature,  vigour,  and 
amount  of  those  activities.  Hence  the  degree  of  its 
vitality  is  of  fundamental  importance  in  efficiency.  It 
the  vitality  of  the  nervous  system  is  lowered  by  fatigue 
or  exhaustion,  by  want  of  nourishment,  or  by  faulty  and 
feeble  action  of  some  part  of  the  organic  system,  the 
effects  are  seen  at  once  in  both  physical  action  and  mental 
life.  Movement  becomes  sluggish,  heavy,  stiff,  and 
awkward,  as  in  the  case  of  the  golfer  who,  after  a  sleepless 
night  or  a  bilious  attack,  is  "off  his  drive,"  or,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  batsman  who,  under  similar  circumstances, 
cannot  "  get  his  eye  in  ".  What  is  really  at  fault  is  the 
nervous  machinery  by  which  the  organs  of  sense  and 
movement  are  brought  into  correlative  action.  This 


HEALTH  179 

nervous  machinery  is  "  below  par,"  and  is  working  more 
sluggishly,  less  smoothly  and  certainly  than  is  its  wont. 
In  consequence,  the  messages  from  senses  to  muscles  are 
a  little  late  in  being  transmitted,  a  little  uncertain  and 
hesitating,  and  the  golfer  tops  or  slices  his  ball,  and  the 
batsman  brings  his  bat  down  just  a  moment  too  late. 
When  the  nerve  centres  are  in  healthy  working  condition, 
and  the  nervous  machinery  is  running  smoothly,  the  ball 
is  driven  clean  and  true,  and  with  no  uncertain  hand. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  tone  of  mental  life  rises  or  falls 
according  as  the  vitality  of  the  nervous  system  is 
heightened  or  lowered.  When  the  nerve  cells  are 
depleted  of  energy,  or  paralysed  by  the  poisons  of  illness 
or  fatigue,  the  intelligence  is  dulled,  the  feelings  are 
depressed,  and  the  will  irresolute.  But  when  nervous 
energy  is  stimulated  by  copious  supplies  of  fresh  air, 
and  by  sharp  exercise  that  drives  the  blood  coursing 
through  the  system,  then  the  intelligence  is  alert,  the 
imagination  flows  freely,  the  feelings  are  brightly  optim- 
istic, and  courage  is  bolder,  firmer,  and  more  confident. 

Efficiency,  then,  is  to  a  considerable  extent  influenced 
by  health,  and  health  is  the  result  of  a  good  action  of  the 
organic  system  of  the  body.  The  organic  system  of  the 
body  consists  of  the  digestive  and  respiratory  organs, 
the  heart  and  blood-vessels  and  the  blood  contained  by 
them,  and  the  excretory  organs  such  as  the  glands  of 
the  skin  and  the  kidneys.  These  are  the  bodily  organs, 
the  function  of  which  is  to  nourish  and  to  serve  the  needs 
of  the  tissues  of  the  body.  What  those  needs  are  will 
be  plain  when  the  life  activity  of  the  tissues  has  been 
made  clear. 

The  tissues  are  storehouses  of  energy,  muscular  tissue 
of  the  energy  of  muscular  contraction,  and  nervous  tissue 
of  the  energy  of  nervous  excitation  and  conduction.  In 
muscular  and  nervous  activity,  muscular  and  nervous 

12  * 


1 8o       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

energy  is  used  up  with  a  corresponding  destruction  of 
muscular  and  nervous  tissue.  Even  when  no  actual 
physical  or  mental  work  is  being  performed,  energy  is 
required  to  maintain  bodily  heat  and  for  all  the  organic 
movements  such  as  breathing,  heart  beat,  digestion,  etc. 
Thus,  one  side  of  tissue  life  consists  in  a  continual  break- 
ing down  of  tissue  substance,  and  a  releasing  of  tissue 
energy  in  the  form  of  heat,  movement,  nervous  excitation, 
etc.  The  other  side  of  tissue  life  is  a  ceaseless  building  up 
of  tissue,  and  a  corresponding  storing  up  of  energy  as  long 
as  nourishment  can  be  absorbed  from  the  blood.  These 
two  processes — building  up  and  breaking  down  of  tissue, 
storing  up  and  expending  energy — make  up  the  life 
activity  of  all  tissue.  When  the  building  up  exceeds  the 
breaking  down,  the  body  increases  in  weight  and  the 
tissues  increase  in  their  vitality.  When  the  breaking  down 
exceeds  the  building  up,  as  in  too  hard  work  or  in  illness, 
the  body  decreases  in  weight,  and  the  vitality  of  the 
tissues  is  lowered. 

The  immediate  source  of  tissue  substance  and  energy 
is  the  blood-stream  which  is  rightly  named  "the  vital 
fluid  ".  On  the  nutritious  plasma  of  the  blood  and  on  its 
oxygen-carrying  red  corpuscles,  depends  the  power  of  life 
and  work  of  the  tissues,  for  it  is  on  these  the  tissues  feed. 
They  absorb  the  nutritious  fluid  and  the  oxygen  of  the 
red  corpuscles,  and  build  them  into  new  tissue  substance. 

The  blood,  however,  is  only  an  intermediary.  The 
ultimate  sources  of  tissue  substance  and  energy  are  food 
and  air.  These  have  not  only  to  enter  the  body  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  replace  the  wastage  of  tissue  energy, 
but  they  have  to  be  absorbed  into  the  blood-stream. 
Raw  food  must  be  resolved  into  absorbable  fluids.  This 
is  the  work  of  the  digestive  juices  of  the  mouth,  stomach, 
and  intestines.  Air  entering  the  lungs — the  amount 
being  determined  by  lung  capacity  and  chest  action — 


HEALTH  181 

must  pass  through  the  thin  walls  of  the  air  cells  and  be 
absorbed  by  the  haemoglobin  of  the  red  corpuscles.  The 
amount  of  food  and  oxygen  absorbed  by  the  blood  will 
depend,  then,  the  one  on  the  digestible  character  of  the 
food  and  the  digestive  power  of  the  digestive  juices, 
the  other  on  the  richness  of  the  blood  in  red  cor- 
puscles and  of  the  corpuscles  in  the  absorbing  agent 
haemoglobin,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  the  blood  is 
circulated  through  the  Jungs. 

The  blood,  enriched  by  the  nutritious  fluids  absorbed 
from  the  digestive  organs  and  by  the  oxygen  absorbed 
in  the  lungs,  is  circulated  round  the  whole  body  to  nourish 
the  tissues.  The  circulation  of  the  blood  is  the  work  of 
the  heart,  which  is  a  powerful  muscular  force-pump 
squeezing  its  fluid  contents  regularly  some  sixty  to  eighty 
times  per  minute  into  the  distributing  arteries.  Finally, 
making  its  way  into  the  tissues  by  the  infinite  ramifica- 
tions of  hair-like  blood-vessels,  the  blood  bathes  the 
tissues  through  and  through  with  nutritious  fluid,  and 
gives  up  to  them  the  wherewithal  of  nutriment  and 
oxygen  to  build  up  new  substance  and  to  store  up  the 
energy  of  life  and  work. 

This,  then,  is  the  credit  side  of  the  life  processes  of 
the  body.  The  sources  for  the  renewal  of  the  energy  of 
life  and  work  are  food  and  air.  These,  by  the  help  of 
the  digestive,  respiratory,  and  circulatory  systems,  find 
their  way  to  the  tissues  and  become  transformed  into 
muscular,  nervous,  or  some  other  form  of  tissue  substance, 
and  represent  an  accumulated  fund  of  muscular,  nervous, 
or  some  other  form  of  energy. 

The  debtor  side  of  the  life  processes  of  the  tissues  is 
the  destruction  of  tissue  substance  to  supply  the  energy 
of  life  and  action.  Just  as  coal  in  burning  gives  off  the 
energy  of  heat  and,  in  doing  so,  decomposes  itself  into 
waste  gases  and  ash,  so  tissue  substance  in  breaking 


i82        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

down  releases  energy  and  forms  waste  substances  such 
as  carbonic  acid,  urea,  and  water.  These  waste  pro- 
ducts are  not  only  useless  in  the  bodily  economy,  but 
harmful.  They  are  poisons  which,  if  allowed  to  accumu- 
late in  the  tissues  and  in  the  blood,  will  numb  and  finally 
paralyse  the  action  of  nerve  and  muscle.  Especially 
marked  is  this  harmful  effect  on  the  sensitive  nervous 
tissue  of  the  higher  centres  of  consciousness.  If  the 
waste  poisons  are  not  removed  from  the  body  as  fast  as 
they  are  formed,  their  effect  on  consciousness  is  shown 
in  a  dulled  sluggish  movement  of  intelligence,  in  feelings 
of  languor  and  tiredness,  and  in  a  disinclination  to  con- 
centrated and  persistent  effort. 

The  scavenger  of  the  body  for  removing  the  waste 
matters  is  the  circulating  blood-stream.  Bathing  all  the 
tissues  in  its  stream,  the  blood  draws  from  them  their 
waste  poisons  into  itself.  The  poisons  are,  however,  no 
less  harmful  in  the  blood  than  in  the  tissues  that  pro- 
duced them.  Their  paralysing  effects  are  not  quite  so 
locally  virulent,  but  are  more  generally  diffused  through- 
out the  whole  system.  For  vigorous  health  it  is  essential 
they  should  be  removed  altogether.  Their  removal  is 
the  work  of  the  skin,  the  kidneys,  and  the  lungs.  The 
glands  of  the  skin  abstract  water  and  some  salts,  which 
escape  from  the  pores  as  invisible  and  sometimes  as 
visible  perspiration.  The  kidneys  remove  urea  and 
water.  The  lungs  take  away  the  carbonic  acid  gas. 
These  organs,  then,  are  the  purifiers  of  the  system.  The 
blood  purifies  the  tissues,  and  the  excretory  organs  purify 
the  blood.  Thus,  on  a  good  circulation  and  an  efficient 
action  of  lungs,  skin,  and  kidneys,  will  depend  the  free- 
dom of  the  nerves  and  muscles  to  perform  their  work 
to  the  fullest  extent  of  their  power. 

The  double  process  of  tissue  building  and  tissue  de- 
struction, and  the  work  of  the  organic  system  that 


HEALTH 


183 


ministers  to  the  needs  of  them,  can  be  summarized  as 
follows  :— 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SIDE  OF  LIFE  PROCESSES. 

Sources 

of 
Tissue  Substance  and  Energy. 


Food 


Digestive  System 

Food  resolved  into 

Fluids  and  absorbed 

by  Blood 


Air 


Lungs 

Oxygen  of  Air  absorbed 

by  Red  Corpuscles  of 

the  Blood 


Blood 

circulated  by  the  Heart 
to 

Tissues 

NUTRIMENT  AND  OXYGEN 
built  into 

New  Tissue  Substance 

which  thus  serves  as  a 

STOREHOUSE 

of  the 

Energy  of  Life  and  Work, 


1 84        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 


DESTRUCTIVE  SIDE  OF  LIFE  PROCESSES. 


Tissue 

destroyed  to  supply 
the 

Energy  of  Life  and  Work, 

with  the  formation 

of 
poisonous 

Waste    Products 

which  are  abstracted 

from  the  Tissues 

by  the 

Blood, 

which  in  turn  is  purified 
from 


CARBONIC  ACID         WATER  &  SALTS         UREA  &  WATER 

by  the  by  the  by  the 

Lungs.  Skin.  Kidneys. 

There  are,  thus,  many  stages  in  the  complex  work  of 
ministering  to  the  life  of  the  tissues,  and  at  each  stage 
there  are  conditions  on  which  healthy  life  and  efficient 
work  depend.  Following  the  summary  given  above, 
we  may  outline  these  conditions  as  follows  : — 


HEALTH 


185 


CONDITIONS 

determining 

HEALTHY  LIFE  AND  EFFICIENT  WORK. 


Food 

should  be 

sufficient  in  amount, 

nutritive  in  quality, 

digestible  in  character. 


Digestion 

The  digestive  juices  should 
be  powerful  in  digestive 
ferments  to  resolve  the 
various  kinds  of  foods  into 
absorbable  fluids. 


Air 

should  be 

copious  in  supply, 
pure  in  quality. 


Respiration 

The  lungs  should  be  ca- 
pacious   and    the    chest 
should  have  good  expan- 
sive action. 


Blood 

should  be 

Nutritious  and  Oxygenated,  and 

circulated  by  a  strong  heart  action 

to  promote 

Active  Tissue  Construction. 

Waste  Products 

of 

Tissue  Destruction 

should  be  abstracted 

by  a 

Vigorous  Circulation 

of  the  Blood 

which  in  turn  should  be 

PURIFIED 

by  an 

Efficient  Action 

of  the 

Skin  and  Kidneys, 


1 86        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Health  and  vigour,  thus,  seem  to  centre  round  the 
richness  of  the  blood  in  nutriment  and  oxygen,  and  its 
freedom  from  waste  poisons.  The  determinants  of  these 
qualities,  further,  resolve  themselves  simply  into  two 
main  sets  of  conditions  : — 

1.  The  amount  and  quality  of  the  food  we  eat,  and  of 
the  air  we  breathe. 

2.  The  vigour  of  the  organs  that  nourish,  oxygenate, 
and  purify  the  blood. 

The  supply  of  food  hardly  comes  within  the  scope  of 
the  school  administration,  though  much  more  could  be 
done  than  is  done,  to  train  the  future  mothers  in  a  wise 
and  provident  housecraft.  It  is  more  than  doubtful, 
however,  whether  instruction  to  young  girls  in  the  prim- 
ary school  would  be  of  much  avail  in  breaking  down  the 
improvident  and  foolish  habits  of  the  artisan  class  in  the 
matter  of  food.  The  period  between  the  "  leaving  age  " 
and  womanhood  is  too  long  for  the  lesson  to  last,  especi- 
ally as  the  girls'  interests  during  this  period  are,  as  a 
rule,  dissipated  between  work  and  recreation.  The 
working-class  girl  is  not  a  home  bird.  There  is  a  greater 
possibility  of  success  in  instruction  to  girls  during  the 
period  immediately  preceding  maturity.  Could  young 
women  of  from  seventeen  to  twenty  years  of  age  be 
attracted  into  continuation  schools,  say  for  social  recrea- 
tion, they  might  be  induced  to  take  up  courses  in  house- 
craft and  the  duties  of  motherhood,  were  these  presented 
in  a  way  that  appealed  to  them. 

Fresh  air  comes  within  the  province  of  the  school 
organization,  and  its  provision  presents  problems  that  go 
far  beyond  the  mere  ventilation  of  the  school  buildings. 
Nature  intended  the  young  to  grow  to  manhood  in  the 
open  air.  Her  penalties  in  anaemia,  consumption, 
rickety  and  scrofulous  tendencies,  debilitated  nerves  and 
weak  digestion,  if  her  laws  are  disobeyed,  are  sufficient 


HEALTH  187 

evidence  of  this.  A  good  education,  in  the  sense  of 
"  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano,"  cannot  be  given  if  boys 
and  girls  are  cooped  up  within  four  walls  during  the 
greater  part  of  their  growing  lives,  no  matter  how  effi- 
cient may  be  the  ventilation  of  the  rooms.  Much  of  the 
work  of  education  should  take  place  outside  the  class- 
room in  the  playground,  playing  fields,  open  spaces,  and 
in  the  country.  An  open-air  school  life  of  freer,  wider, 
and  more  vigorous  physical  activity  than  that  usual  at 
present,  has  been  our  contention  on  many  grounds.  On 
the  ground  of  health  it  is  an  absolute  necessity.  As  we 
have  suggested,  this  open-air  schooling  should  take  the 
form  of  practical  measurements  in  the  playground, 
streets,  and  open  spaces,  field-work  in  nature  study  and 
geography,  historical  excursions,  and  games  in  the  play- 
ground and  playing  fields.  More  will  be  said  later  of 
the  value  of  open-air  schooling  in  summer  camps,  a  form 
of  schooling  as  yet  in  embryo,  but  the  value  of  which  in 
training  healthy  bodies,  strong  frames,  initiative,  re- 
source and  manliness  is  beginning  to  receive  practical 
recognition. 

The  efficient  action  of  the  bodily  organs — the  second 
factor  in  health — is  partly  a  matter  of  a  good  hereditary 
stock.  Heredity,  even  in  a  democratic  age,  counts  for 
much  in  both  physical  and  mental  life.  The  child  of 
healthy  parents  begins  life  with  a  big  balance  at  the  bank 
of  health.  The  weakly  born  struggles  through  to  man- 
hood severely  handicapped.  And  "  unto  everyone  which 
hath  shall  be  given  ;  and  from  him  that  hath  not,  even 
that  he  hath  shall  be  taken  away  ".  One  weakly  organ 
affects  the  nutrition  of  the  whole  system  which  grgws  up 
stunted  in  all  its  parts,  for  all  the  other  organs,  affected 
by  the  weak  member,  lose  tone  and  work  with  enfeebled 
action. 

Although   education   cannot    make   weak    machinery 


1 88        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

work  so  well  as  that  which  is  strongly  built,  it  can  make 
weak  organs  stronger.  As  a  skilled  engineer  nurses  some 
cranky  engines  and  gets  the  utmost  power  out  of  them, 
so  healthy  conditions  of  life  will  make  the  most  of  the 
physical  powers  with  which  a  child  is  endowed.  Un- 
healthy conditions,  on  the  other  hand,  aggravate  the 
weakness,  and  quickly  lead  to  active  disease.  There  is, 
therefore,  in  the  case  of  children  naturally  weak,  all  the 
more  need  to  make  the  conditions  of  life  during  the 
period  of  growth  such  as  will  stimulate  a  vigorous  action 
of  all  the  bodily  organs. 

The  natural  stimulus  to  the  action  of  the  bodily  organs 
is  physical  exercise.  It  excites  the  lungs  to  more  rapid 
and  deeper  breathing,  and  the  heart  to  a  quicker  and  more 
forceful  beat.  Its  effect  on  these  organs  is  easily  demon- 
strated in  running  and  climbing.  Let  anyone  run  a 
hundred  yards,  or  climb  a  stiff  hill,  and  he  will  find  his 
heart-beat  nearly  doubled,  and  his  breathing  approximat- 
ing towards  panting.  The  immediate  consequences  of  the 
increased  action  of  the  heart  and  lungs  are  to  bring  more 
oxygen  into  the  blood,  and  to  circulate  the  more  highly 
oxygenated  blood  round  all  the  tissues.  The  tissues  re- 
spond at  once  by  more  active  nutritive  changes.  It  is  as 
if  a  strong  tonic  had  been  administered  generally  over  all 
the  system.  While  the  increased  breathing  and  circulation 
last,  every  part  of  the  body  lives  a  more  intensely  active 
organic  life.  Nervous  and  muscular  energy  is  more  freely 
expended  and  built  up  again.  The  digestive  organs  are 
stimulated  to  a  more  active  secretion  of  digestive  fluids. 
Waste  products  are  more  rapidly  removed  from  the  work- 
ing tissues.  The  blood  circulating  more  rapidly  through 
the  skin,  lungs  and  kidneys,  the  activity  of  these  organs 
is  increased  and  the  blood  is,  in  consequence,  more 
efficiently  purified.  Thus,  by  exercise,  the  whole  of  the 
nutrifying  and  purifying  activities  of  the  body  are  excited 


HEALTH  189 

to  a  more  vigorous  action,  and  the  nerves  and  muscles 
respond  by  increased  power  and  a  more  elastic  tone. 

The  above  account  explains  the  well-known  refreshing 
effect  that  exercise  in  the  fresh  air  has  on  both  body  and 
mind.  The  change  from  a  stuffy  room  to  the  open  air, 
from  sitting  in  an  office  to  sharp  exercise,  seems  to  remove 
a  drag  from  the  wheels  of  life.  From  the  first  deep  breath 
and  the  first  brisk  step  it  feels  as  if  some  depressing, 
devitalizing  humours  were  being  expelled  from  the  whole 
being.  The  appetite  is  sharpened,  the  muscles  gain  a 
"  spring,"  the  nerves  are  braced,  the  mind  is  cleared,  and 
the  spirits  become  bright  and  cheerful.  Energy  of  all 
kinds — muscular  and  nervous — is  being  spent  and  re- 
newed more  quickly,  and  vitality  is  on  a  higher  plane. 

In  addition  to  the  effect  on  general  health  and  vigour, 
exercise  has  a  remarkable  effect  on  the  muscles  engaged 
in  the  exercise.  Exercise,  we  have  seen,  produces  an 
increase  in  the  intensity  of  the  nutritive  interchange 
between  blood  and  tissue.  It  also  leads  to  a  change  in 
its  character.  During  rest,  the  life  processes  of  the 
muscular  tissues  proceed  on  so  diminished  a  scale  that  the 
blood  bathing  the  tissues  has  far  more  nourishment  than  is 
required  to  replace  tissue  waste.  The  tissues,  therefore, 
proceed  to  use  the  nutriment  for  other  purposes.  They 
turn  themselves  into  feeding  organisms,  and,  taking  the 
nourishment  from  the  blood,  store  it  up  in  their  substance 
as  fats  and  starches.  The  muscles,  then,  when  at  rest  do 
not  develop  muscular  power,  but  put  on  "  flesh  ".  If  the 
rest  be  prolonged,  as  in  the  case  of  a  man  leading  a  seden- 
tary life  or  loafing,  the  degeneration  of  the  tissues  is  very 
marked  in  soft,  flabby,  limp  muscles,  incapable  of  strong 
contractile  effort  and  of  prolonged  work.  A  burst  of 
exercise  quickly  brings  on  fatigue  and  even  exhaustion, 
from  which  the  degenerate  tissues  but  slowly  recover. 
Fats  and  starches  in  the  muscular  tissues  are  not  conducive 


PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

to  contractile  activity  and  resistant  and  recuperative 
power,  but  rather  to  the  production  of  heat,  perspiration 
and  tissue  poisons,  and  the  clogging  of  muscular  action. 

The  changes  that  take  place  in  the  tissues  when  they 
are  working  are  quite  different  from  the  above.  The 
muscular  substance,  by  its  own  exercise,  is  stimulated  to 
use  the  nutrition  of  the  blood  to  build  up  contractile  sub- 
stance, and  the  more  the  exercise  is  continued,  within 
limits,  the  more  real  working  tissue  is  formed.  The  in- 
crease of  working  muscular  substance  is  shown  in  the 
muscle  becoming  harder,  and  firmer,  and  bigger. 

The  revolution  in  the  nutrition  of  muscle,  when  work 
is  substituted  for  rest,  is  very  clearly  seen  when  a  man 
goes  into  "  training "  after  a  long  spell  of  rest.  The 
effects  of  the  daily  exercise  are  at  first  very  distressing. 
He  becomes  heated,  perspires  copiously,  loses  his  breath 
quickly,  and  soon  tires.  He  also  loses  weight.  He  is 
getting  rid  of  the  useless  fats  and  starches  that  clogged 
his  muscles  during  rest.  The  exercise  is  quickly  reducing 
them  to  water  and  carbonic  acid  with  considerable  evolu- 
tion of  heat ;  hence  the  heat,  perspiration,  and  panting. 
As  daily  exercise  continues,  he  begins  to  "  get  fit".  He 
ceases  to  perspire,  and  can  stand  prolonged  exertion  with- 
out fatigue.  He  begins  to  put  on  weight ;  but  the  in- 
crease of  tissue  is  of  quite  a  different  kind  from  the  fats 
and  starches  accumulated  during  idleness.  His  muscles 
are  now  building  up  increasing  amounts  of  real  muscular 
substance  that  has  the  power  to  do  muscular  work,  and 
the  effect  is  seen  in  their  capacity  for  stronger  and  more 
prolonged  effort,  for  resisting  fatigue  and,  if  fatigue  does 
ensue,  for  a  quick  recovery. 

What  is  true  of  muscle  is  true  also  of  every  form  of 
working  tissue — bone,  sinew,  nerve,  or  whatever  it  may 
be.  Exercise  the  tissue  and  functional  power  is  de- 
veloped. Exercise  the  bodily  frame  and,  in  addition  to 


HEALTH  191 

the  effect  on  the  muscles,  the  bones  become  larger  and 
stronger,  the  sinews  tougher,  the  joints  more  free. 
Exercise  the  brain,  and  the  tissues  of  the  brain  centres 
strengthen  their  substance  for  the  performance  of  brain 
work.  In  fine,  power  to  do  work  comes  by  doing  it ; 
muscular  power  by  doing  muscular  work,  brain  power  by 
doing  brain  work.  Prolonged  rest,  on  the  other  hand, 
degenerates  power.  Hence,  power  is  only  maintained 
by  constant  and  regular  practice,  a  conclusion  that  is 
amply  borne  out  by  experience. 

The  body,  then,  lives  the  healthiest  and  most  vigorous 
life,  and  develops  and  maintains  the  highest  efficiency  for 
work,  if  brain  and  muscle  are  exercised  regularly  up  to 
the  limit  to  which  their  vitality  and  recuperative  power 
will  respond.  Indolence,  idleness,  a  sedentary  life  are 
sources  of  weakness ;  mental  indolence  to  brain  power, 
physical  indolence  to  muscular  power  and  health.  A 
boy  and  a  man  may  take  too  much  rest,  just  as  they 
may  do  too  much  work.  For  full  perfection  of  health 
and  power,  the  need  of  unrelenting  daily  activity  of 
every  power  presses  upon  one  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave. 

Like  most  educational  rules,  the  law  of  exercise 
should  not  be  carried  to  extremes.  There  are  limits 
beyond  which,  and  conditions  under  which,  exercise 
ceases  to  be  a  benefit.  Exercise,  after  all,  is  only  a 
stimulus.  It  is  not  a  source  of  energy.  Rather  the 
reverse,  it  spends  energy.  It  benefits  health  only 
because,  in  exciting  increased  nutritive  activity,  the 
general  gain  is  greater  than  the  loss.  In  physical 
exercise  the  body  puts  out  to  usury  its  tissue  and  energy. 
It  spends  in  order  to  gain.  The  interest  is  drawn 
directly  from  the  nutriment  and  oxygen  of  the  blood,  in- 
directly from  the  food  and  air  supplied  to  the  body.  As 
physical  activity  increases,  so,  in  like  measure,  must  the 


192        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

supply  of  food  and  air  increase,  if  there  is  to  be  a  benefit 
to  health.  If  food  and  air  in  sufficient  quantities  are 
withheld,  exercise  can  but  run  the  clock  down.  To  a 
half-starved  child,  strenuous  or  prolonged  physical  ac- 
tivity is  not  a  tonic.  It  is  a  drain  on  a  reservoir  of 
energy  that  is  only  half  filled.  For  a  similar  reason, 
vigorous  exercise  is  harmful  during  convalescence  after 
a  prostrating  illness,  or  if  one  is  suffering  from  nervous 
debility  or  a  wasting  disease.  In  such  cases,  the  tissues 
require  all  the  food  and  air  they  can  get  to  restore  their 
diminished  vitality.  There  is  none  to  spare  for  strenuous 
exercise.  The  correct  prescription  in  all  such  cases  of 
reduced  vitality  is  good  feeding,  fresh  air,  and  a  tonic  of 
gentle  exercise  proportionate  to  the  general  bodily 
strength. 

It  is  clear,  also,  that  physical  exercise  in  the  foul  air 
of  stuffy  rooms  will  not  be  beneficial  to  health.  The 
foul  air  interferes  with  the  double  exchange  of  gases  in 
the  lungs,  viz.  the  passage  of  oxygen  from  the  air  to  the 
blood,  and  of  carbonic  acid  gas  from  the  blood  to  the  air. 
Exercise,  however,  relies  in  a  large  measure  for  its 
stimulus  on  the  increased  quantities  of  oxygen  absorbed. 
In  a  stuffy  room  this  tonic  effect  is  lacking.  The  working 
muscles  and  nerve  centres  are  starved  of  oxygen  and 
poisoned  with  over-doses  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  The 
muscles  are  only  kept  working  by  the  spur  of  the  will 
and  they  quickly  tire.  The  body,  instead  of  being  re- 
freshed, is  depressed ;  instead  of  being  energized,  is  de- 
vitalized. To  develop  health  and  vigour,  "in  the  fresh 
air  "  is  a  necessary  adjunct  to  "  exercise  ". 

The  body  is  a  living  machine.  It  differs  from  a 
machine  of  iron  in  that  the  energy  of  work  is  supplied 
by  the  destruction  of  its  own  substance.  During  activity, 
tissue  is  destroyed,  energy  is  liberated,  poisonous  waste 
products  are  formed.  Exercise,  then,  tends  to  be  both 


HEALTH  193 

a  drain  on  vitality,  and,  by  the  paralysing  effects  of  the 
waste  products  formed,  a  clog  on  continued  action.  All 
is  well  so  long  as  the  working  tissues  have  the  vitality  to 
stand  the  drain,  and  the  nutrifying  and  purifying  pro- 
cesses of  the  body  can  adequately  deal  with  the  situation. 
If,  however,  the  exercise  be  so  violent  or  so  prolonged 
that  the  expenditure  is  greater  than  the  muscles  or  the 
nutrifying  organs  can  make  good,  or  if  the  accumulation 
of  poisons  is  greater  than  the  blood  can  remove,  then  the 
muscles  and  nerve  centres  controlling  them  increasingly 
tend  to  act  more  slowly  and  reluctantly.  The  results  of 
their  own  extreme  action  are  tending  to  put  them  out  of 
action.  They  are  becoming  fatigued,  tired,  and  incapable 
of  effective  work. 

It  is  certain  that  the  paralysing  effects  of  the  waste 
products  is  felt  as  a  drag  on  activity  long  before  the 
drain  on  tissue  energy  becomes  a  serious  matter.  The 
muscles  and  nerve  centres  controlling  them,  overpowered 
by  the  poisons  produced  in  them,  respond  more  and  more 
slowly  and  feebly.  To  get  work  from  them  the  will  has 
to  spur  them  with  increasingly  powerful  stimuli.  When 
the  body  is  fatigued  the  will  has  to  carry  one  through. 
As  the  activity  continues,  the  distressing  effects  only 
increase,  until  at  length,  if  we  are  foolish  enough  to  drive 
our  bodies  to  such  extremes,  the  will  fails  to  secure  any 
adequate  response.  The  stage  of  exhaustion  is  reached. 

Though  the  initial  stage  of  fatigue  is  due  largely  to 
the  waste  products  "  slowing  down  "  the  responsive  power 
of  the  machinery  of  movement,  in  the  later  stage  of  ex- 
haustion the  distress  is  the  result  of  worn-out  vitality. 
That  there  is  a  physiological  difference  between  fatigue, 
the  beginning  of  distress,  and  exhaustion,  the  final  stage, 
is  evident  when  the  process  of  recovery  is  examined. 
Fatigue  can  be  easily  removed.  Rest  for  a  few  minutes 
or  hours,  according  to  the  amount  of  the  fatigue,  usually 

13 


194        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

refreshes  the  system  and  restores  the  working  tissues  to 
their  former  power.  Exhaustion,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a 
more  serious  matter.  The  depression  after  it  is  great 
and  lasting.  Recovery  from  it  is  slow.  It  is  evident 
something  more  is  required  than  the  mere  removal  of 
waste  matters.  In  fact,  the  tissues  have  to  renew  their 
vitality.  They  have  to  rebuild  their  substance  and  re- 
store their  energy.  This  is  always  a  question  of  time, 
and  the  weakening  of  the  vitality  of  the  tissues  may 
have  been  so  great  that  full  strength  may  never  be  re- 
gained. Liability  to  break  down  under  sudden  stress  or 
continuous  strain  may  remain  as  a  permanent  weakness. 

Fatigue,  then,  should  always  be  regarded  as  a  sign 
that  exercise  has  ceased  to  be  beneficial,  and  as  a  warn- 
ing to  take  a  rest.  To  carry  fatigue  to  exhaustion  is  to  go 
on  working  the  body  when  it  is  crying  out  that  it  cannot 
respond  adequately  to  the  strain.  There  are,  however, 
various  ways  by  which  fatigue  can  be  kept  at  bay.  If 
the  frame  has  been  hardened  by  regular  daily  work,  it 
increases  its  power  not  only  to  do  work,  but  also  to  resist 
fatigue.  The  physical  vitality  built  up  by  regular  exer- 
cise is  of  a  fatigue-resisting  order.  It  carries  the  frame 
through  a  heavy  and  long  effort  without  any  distressing 
effects.  Similarly,  in  the  case  of  resistance  to  brain 
fatigue,  daily  mental  application  builds  up  a  form  of 
nerve  substance  that  can  do  intense  and  continuous  brain 
work  without  succumbing  readily  to  fatigue. 

If  a  period  of  rest  be  taken  when  the  first  signs  of 
fatigue  are  recognized,  time  is  given  for  the  nutrifying 
and  purifying  agencies  of  the  body  to  refresh  the  working 
tissues  and  to  restore  their  condition.  Work  can  then 
be  restarted  with  renewed  vigour.  Punctuated  by 
periods  of  rest,  work — physical  or  mental — can  go  on  for 
a  far  longer  time  than  if  it  be  continuous.  Change  of 
occupation,  too,  has  the  effect  of  resting  the  tissues  that 


HEALTH  195 

have  been  working.  The  change,  however,  must  be  a 
complete  one.  Entirely  fresh  muscles  or  nerve  centres 
should  be  called  into  play,  and  the  fatigued  ones  com- 
pletely rested.  Thus,  a  change  from  a  reflective  activity 
to  a  perceptual  one,  from  mental  to  physical  work,  from 
concentrated  application  to  a  relaxing  recreation,  from 
fine  and  delicate  finger  movements  to  large  action  of  the 
body  is  beneficial  as  rest. 

However  much  local  relief  it  may  bring,  change  from 
one  form  of  activity  to  another  does  not  bring  any  general 
benefit.  If  work  continues,  no  matter  what  form  the 
work  takes,  the  system  as  a  whole  will  feel  more  and 
more  the  strain  of  work.  The  blood-stream  will  become 
increasingly  less  pure  and  less  nutritious,  and  the  organs 
of  the  body  less  responsive.  Periods  of  rest  and  relaxa- 
tion, fresh  air,  and  meals  will  but  delay  the  inevitable 
moment  when  any  form  of  work  will  be  felt  as  a  drag. 
When  that  moment  does  arrive  general  fatigue  of  the 
whole  system  has  begun  to  set  in.  The  whole  of  the 
organs  and  tissues  are  beginning  to  respond  more  slowly, 
feebly,  and  reluctantly.  The  time  has  come  to  cease  all 
work,  and  for  general  rest  and  sleep  to  repair  the  general 
mischief. 

Exercise,  we  have  seen,  develops  general  health  and 
vigour  by  the  stimulus  it  gives  to  circulation  and  to  breath- 
ing, and  through  them  to  the  nutrifying  and  purifying 
activities  of  the  body.  The  intensity  of  the  stimulus  of 
exercise  is  proportionate  to  the  amount  of  work  done  by 
the  muscles.  A  feeble  muscular  action  confined  to  a 
group  of  small  muscles,  as  in  writing  and  drawing,  has 
no  appreciable  general  effect.  Even  larger  movements 
of  the  arm  will  tire  out  the  muscles  long  before  the 
system,  as  a  whole,  responds  to  the  activity  to  any  great 
extent.  The  greatest  effect  on  the  system  generally 
is  produced  by  the  large  muscles  of  the  legs,  thighs,  and 

13* 


196        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

trunk  acting  together  to  overcome  some  resistance. 
These  groups  of  large  muscles  can  do  a  large  amount  of 
work  in  a  short  time  and  with  the  greatest  ease.  There 
is  little  fear  of  their  being  fatigued  before  the  system 
generally  has  benefited.  Circulation  and  breathing 
quickly  respond  to  the  largeness  of  their  activity,  as 
witness  the  well-known  effects  of  running  upstairs  or  hill 
climbing.  Such  exercises  as  these,  then,  are  most  easily 
beneficial  to  health,  so  long  as  the  limits  of  fatigue  are 
not  overstepped,  and  they  are  supplemented  by  food  and 
fresh  air.  Indeed,  all  exercises  are  good  in  which  the 
body  moves  or  lifts  its  own  weight  by  its  larger  muscles, 
as  in  running,  skipping,  and  climbing,  or  struggles  with 
its  whole  frame  to  overcome  a  resistance  as  in  swimming 
and  wrestling,  to  which  examples  may  be  added  football, 
hockey,  fives,  jumping,  leaping,  tug-of-war,  hand-ball,  and 
many  other  games  and  contests. 

Especially  important  to  the  efficient  performance  of 
physical  work  is  the  action  of  the  heart  and  lungs.  These 
organs  are  constantly  at  work  night  and  day,  maintaining 
the  power  of  the  human  machine.  Their  action  is  auto- 
matically adapted  to  the  work  the  body  is  doing.  If  the 
body  be  at  rest,  the  frequency  and  strength  of  the  heart- 
beat, and  the  frequency  and  depth  of  inspiration,  are  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  As  the  amount  of  work  done  by 
the  body  increases,  so  do  the  heart  and  lungs  augment 
their  action.  Hence  the  power  of  the  body  to  engage 
in  strenuous  work,  and  to  continue  it  for  considerable 
periods,  depends  on  the  power  of  those  vital  organs  to 
rise  to  the  demands  thrust  on  them.  It  is  a  well-known 
sporting  phrase  that  "a  man  runs  with  his  lungs".  If 
he  tries  to  work  beyond  his  breathing  capacity,  he  be- 
comes breathless  and  fatigued.  It  is  equally  true  that 
he  cannot  work  beyond  his  heart  power  without  doing 
himself  an  injury.  Thus,  the  power  to  work  vigorously, 


HEALTH  197 

and  to  maintain  such  work  continuously,  does  not  rest 
simply  on  the  strength  of  the  muscular  frame.  It  de- 
pends, too,  on  the  strength  of  the  heart  and  the  expansive 
capacity  of  the  lungs.  Education,  then,  must  endeavour 
to  increase  the  working  efficiency  of  these  organs,  especi- 
ally in  the  case  of  those  classes  of  pupils  who  intend  a 
career  of  physical  labour. 

The  heart  is  a  muscular  pump.  Its  rhythmic  con- 
tractions squeeze  the  blood  out  of  its  inner  chambers, 
and  force  it  through  the  arteries  to  the  tissues,  where  it 
spreads  out  through  the  innumerable  thread-like  tubes  that 
ramify  like  a  close  interlacing  network  through  their  sub- 
stance. The  heart  beats  normally  from  sixty  to  eighty 
per  minute ;  in  times  of  physical  stress  or  emotional  ex- 
citement, the  frequency  of  the  beat  may  rise  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty.  It  works  day  and  night.  Its  beat 
during  life  never  stops.  Hence,  rest  for  the  heart  is 
only  relative.  The  heart  has  its  easiest  time  when  all  the 
muscles  are  relaxed,  as  in  sleep  or  in  lying  down.  On 
these  occasions  the  working  tissues  require  only  a  mini- 
mum of  nutrition  and  oxygen,  and  the  heart-beat  is 
automatically  reduced  to  adapt  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  to  their  diminished  wants.  When  the  muscles 
are  actively  working,  the  demand  for  nutrition  and 
oxygen  increases,  and  the  heart  responds  with  increased 
force  and  frequency  of  beat  to  meet  their  greater 
needs. 

The  heart  is  strengthened,  as  all  muscle  is  strengthened, 
by  exercising  itself  vigorously.  The  usual  limits  of  fatigue 
and  conditions  of  food  and  air  must,  of  course,  be  pre- 
served. Like  the  arm  or  leg,  it  develops  a  power  suited 
to  the  normal  demands  made  on  it.  If  a  person's  mode 
of  life  be  sedentary,  or  one  of  loafing  and  idleness,  his 
heart  becomes  adapted  to  the  small  stimulus  of  a  small 
physical  exertion.  A  violent  effort  or  a  prolonged 


198       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

physical  task  finds  such  a  person's  heart  unprepared  for 
the  emergency.  Fatigue  soon  ensues  and,  if  the  work 
still  be  continued,  increases  to  exhaustion,  from  which 
the  heart  may  recover  only  after  weeks  of  rest 

Such  cases  of  heart  weakness  are  only  too  common. 
A  merchant  or  clerk,  sitting  in  his  office  day  after  day 
during  the  year,  suddenly  rushes  for  a  holiday  to  the 
mountains  and  the  moors.  He  undertakes  long  climbs 
and  heavy  walks  day  by  day.  At  the  end  of  his  holi- 
day, instead  of  finding  himself  in  the  pink  of  condition, 
he  may  complain  of  dizziness,  faintness,  and  palpitations. 
His  heart,  which  has  adapted  itself  for  the  stimulus  of  a 
sedentary  life,  has  been  unable  to  stand  the  excessive  and 
continuous  strain  put  on  it.  Driven  to  exert  itself  be- 
yond the  limits  of  fatigue,  it  has  become  weakened  in- 
stead of  strengthened  by  the  exercise.  Where  a  gentler 
exercise,  indulged  in  day  by  day  and  increasing  gradually 
in  amount  and  length,  would  have  continuously  strength- 
ened it,  until  finally  it  would  have  developed  the  power 
to  bear  a  sudden  spurt  or  a  prolonged  effort,  the  daily 
urging  it  beyond  its  strength  has  drained  it  of  the  small 
power  it  possessed. 

Regular  daily  exercise,  then,  develops  heart  power ; 
and  those  exercises  that  are  suited  to  the  training  of 
health  and  vigour  are  also  appropriate  for  strengthening 
the  heart,  since  they  affect  the  health  through  heart  action. 
Games  and  contests  such  as  football,  running,  wrestling, 
climbing  are  admirable  for  the  purpose,  provided  that 
they  are  not  indulged  in  to  excess,  or  in  a  spasmodic  way, 
or  after  illness. 

The  function  of  the  lungs  is  to  bring  as  much  air  as 
possible  into  the  system  at  every  inspiration.  Efficiency 
in  breathing,  therefore,  depends  on  (i)  the  air  capacity  of 
the  lungs,  and  (2)  their  expansive  power.  The  expan- 
sive power  is  measured  by  the  difference  between  the  air 


HEALTH  199 

capacity  of  the  lungs  at  the  height  of  an  inspiration,  and 
that  at  the  end  of  an  expiration.  It  is,  thus,  the  true 
measure  of  the  amount  of  fresh  air  that  can  be  brought 
into  the  lungs  at  each  breath,  if  the  machinery  of  breath- 
ing works  with  its  full  power.  Education,  therefore,  is 
concerned  with  developing  in  each  pupil  good  lung  capa- 
city, good  expansive  power,  and,  we  must ,  also  add,  the 
habit  of  deep  breathing. 

Development  of  lung  power  is  easy,  if  suitable  measures 
be  adopted.  Like  all  living  organs,  the  lungs,  with  the 
accompanying  respiratory  machinery  (the  ribs  and  muscles 
of  the  chest  walls  and  the  diaphragm),  grow  towards  a 
power  that  is  habitually  demanded  of  them.  If  a  per- 
son's daily  occupation,  as  in  the  case  of  a  blacksmith, 
forces  him  into  habitual  deep  breathing,  he  develops  a 
broad,  deep  chest  with  a  correspondingly  large  expanding 
capacity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  clerk  of  sedentary  habit 
tends  to  a  narrow  and  shallow  chest  with  poor  expand- 
ing power.  Tissues  adapt  themselves  by  growth  to 
strains  and  stresses.  Lungs  and  chest  that  are  continu- 
ously being  used  to  the  utmost  extent  of  their  power 
grow,  and  such  development  is  all  the  more  rapid  if  it 
takes  place  during  the  period  of  natural  growth.  It 
follows,  then,  that  all  those  exercises,  contests,  arid  games 
that  promote  health  by  exciting  deep  breathing  are  ad- 
mirably suited  for  developing  breathing  power.  Such 
exercises  are  football,  fives,  running,  wrestling,  climbing, 
etc.  More  artificial  means  can,  of  course,  be  adopted  as, 
for  example,  deep  breathing  exercises.  These  are  use- 
ful for  teaching  the  correct  mode  of  breathing  through 
the  nose,  and  by  expanding  the  lower  part  of  the  chest 
(its  most  capacious  portion).  It  is  not  advisable,  however, 
to  use  such  exercises  for  long  by  themselves.  They 
should  be  combined  with  singing,  elocutionary,  running, 
walking  and  arm  exercises  and  other  forms  of  physical 


200       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

movement,  in  order  that  a  control  of  breath  adapted  to 
each  type  of  action  can  be  taught  as  well. 

Having  established  the  principles  that  should  regulate 
the  development  of  vigorous  health,  we  are  in  a  position 
to  apply  them  to  the  weekly  routine  of  the  school.  It 
is  clear  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  school  pursuits 
of  each  week  should  be  open-air  physical  occupations. 
These  will  include  such  weekly  exercises  as  field-work  of 
some  kind,  excursions,  and  the  more  vigorous  effort  of 
playground  and  field  games  and  scouting  (where  it  is  in- 
troduced as  a  school  pursuit).  Every  day  there  should 
be  at  least  one  period  of  vigorous  open-air  exercise,  and 
at  least  twice  a  week  this  exercise  should  be  sufficiently 
energetic  to  act  as  a  special  tonic  to  the  system.  These 
more  vigorous  games  or  exercises  should  be  followed  by 
bathing.1  We  do  not  think  we  are  asking  for  too  much 
time  for  games  and  contests  if  we  propose  that  there  be 
each  week  two  periods  for  gymnastic  contests  and  two 
for  playground  games,  each  half  an  hour  in  length  ;  to 
which  should  be  added  a  longer  period  of  one  and  a  half 
to  two  hours  for  field  games  or  their  substitute  in 
scouting  or  other  country  sports  or  contests.  It  may 
be  remarked  here  that  vigorous  exercise  should  be  taken 
at  a  time  when  the  body  is  fresh.  The  full  benefits  of 
exercise  cannot  be  secured  when  the  body  is  jaded  and 
tired. 

The  indoor  work  will  be  partly  practical  work  in  the 
handicrafts  and  mathematics  workrooms  and  partly  study 
in  the  classrooms.  For  the  practical  training  in  skilled 
work  to  be  effective,  we  cannot  conceive  less  time  being 
spent  on  handicrafts  than  two  periods  of  one  and  a  half 
hours  each.  One  should  be  spent  in  the  metal-work  shop, 
the  other  in  the  woodwork  room.  A  further  period  of 
one  and  a  half  hours  will  be  required  for  practical 

1  See  p.  231. 


HEALTH  201 

measurements  and  mechanics.  All  rooms,  such  as  the 
gymnasium  and  the  workshops,  in  which  bodies  of  pupils 
are  engaged  in  physical  exertion,  should  be  very  amply 
ventilated,  and  regularly  flushed  with  fresh  air  from  open 
windows  and  doors.  During  physical  exertion,  both 
breathing  and  perspiration  are  accelerated,  with  a  con- 
sequent rapid  fouling  of  the  air. 

The  organization  of  the  indoor  study  should  do  all 
that  is  possible  to  counteract  the  evils  of  sitting.  The 
rooms  should  be  large,  well-ventilated,  and  regularly 
flushed  with  fresh  air.  We  suggest  that  certain  pupils  be 
appointed  to  carry  out  this  duty  at  definitely  stated 
times.  It  is  our  experience  that  boys  can  be  trusted  to 
perform  such  a  service  with  greater  regularity  and  con- 
scientiousness than  can  teachers.  The  desks  should  be  de- 
signed to  discourage  stooping  over  books.  Teachers,  too, 
should  not  be  afraid  to  conduct  lessons  with  the  boys 
standing,  although  too  continuous  standing  in  one  atti- 
tude is  very  fatiguing.  After  each  lesson  period,  the 
class  should  indulge  for  five  minutes  in  singing  or  sharp 
physical  exercises  with  the  windows  open,  or,  if  there  are 
facilities,  in  a  brisk  run  round  the  playground.  We  have 
known  a  class  depart  from  their  classroom  in  single  file 
at  the  double,  run  round  the  yard  and  back  up  the  school 
staircase  and  be  in  their  places  again  within  five  minutes, 
greatly  refreshed  and  brightened  for  their  brisk  exercise. 
These  brief  periods  of  sharp  exercise,  every  now  and 
again,  stimulate  the  circulation,  prevent  the  blood  stag- 
nating in  the  larger  veins  of  the  abdomen,  and  oxygenate 
the  blood.  It  is  certain  that  the  five  minutes  thus  spent 
are  much  more  than  recovered  by  the  greater  efforts 
that  the  pupils  make  after  them. 

The  organization  of  each  day's  work  should  give  con- 
siderable variety  of  occupation,  and  ring  the  changes  on 
reflective,  perceptual,  physical,  concentrated,  mechanical, 


202        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

and  recreative  employment.  Especially  should  long" 
continued  sitting  in  desks  and  over  books  and  close  ap- 
plication to  fine  work  be  avoided.  The  time  for  work 
requiring  close  mental  concentration  is  when  the  brain  is 
fresh.  The  best  periods  for  this  work  are  in  the  early 
morning  and  early  afternoon.  As  the  brain  begins  to 
get  tired,  work  of  a  more  mechanical  order  can  begin, 
and  the  day  should  end  with  a  pursuit  of  a  more  relaxing 
or  recreative  character. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  too  strongly  urged  that  no 
device  of  ventilation,  hygienic  desk,  occasional  physical 
exercise,  or  time-table  organization  can  be  anything  more 
than  a  measure  remedial  of  the  evils  of  classroom  work. 
These  are  not  measures  for  the  active  promotion  of  a 
vigorous  health  and  growth.  Nor  will  they  develop  a 
muscular  frame  strong  and  fatigue-resisting.  For  vigor- 
ous health  and  strength  to  be  living  ideals  of  our  primary 
school  education  they  must  show  themselves  in  measures 
that  are  more  than  medicinal,  remedial  of  evils,  and 
passive  in  their  nature.  We  can  build  our  hopes  of  a 
stronger,  healthier,  more  skilful  and  manly  generation 
only  on  a  school  life  that  is  generous  in  vigorous  physical 
pursuits  carried  on  in  the  open  air. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  STAFF:   ITS  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION. 

WHAT  the  soul  is  to  the  body,  the  teachers  are  to  the 
school.  They  are  the  fount  of  its  spiritual  life.  What- 
ever of  high  effort,  of  honesty  and  truth  in  work  and 
workmanship,  of  keenness  for  learning  and  skill,  of 
liking  for  literature,  art  and  nature,  of  healthy  comrade- 
ship, of  manly  hardihood  and  chivalrous  fair  play  marks 
the  tone  of  a  school,  is  due  to  the  presence  of  these 
qualities  in  a  striking  degree  and  in  a  sympathetically 
active  form  in  the  members  of  the  staff.  Such  qualities 
may  and  do,  we  are  glad  to  say,  exhibit  themselves  fre- 
quently in  individual  scholars,  because  of  the  strength  of 
their  innate  tendencies  or  the  influence  of  the  home ;  but, 
if  they  are  to  be  the  breath  of  the  school's  spiritual  life, 
on  which  the  seeds  of  spiritual  life  in  the  scholars  are  to 
feed  and  from  which  they  are  to  draw  their  strength,  then 
they  must  emanate  from  the  staff  in  so  pervading  and 
dominating  a  form,  and  yet  in  a  manner  so  sympathetic- 
ally attracting,  that  each  scholar  falls  a  victim  to  their 
influence,  and  the  tone  of  the  whole  reflects  their  living 
power.  Fortunate  is  the  school  with  teachers  who  can 
realize  the  spiritual  side  of  its  aim.  Their  life  becomes 
a  mission  ;  their  work,  a  work  of  love.  Much  can  be 
denied  a  school  in  buildings  and  equipment  without  doing 
any  more  harm  than  can  be  avoided  or  repaired  by 
teachers  of  initiative  and  resource ;  but  deny  it  men  of 
high  aims,  of  manly  strength,  of  broad  human  outlook  on 

203 


204        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

life,  of  a  master's  power  in  what  they  have  to  teach,  of 
the  human  sympathy  that  draws  them  into  fellowship 
with  the  young — give  it  machines  of  routine  and  not 
men — and  you  sap  its  spiritual  life.  Teaching  machines 
may  instruct  and  inform,  they  may  develop  the  power 
to  think  and  to  do,  but  what  they  produce  is  like  a  statue 
which,  exhibiting  all  the  outward  semblances  of  man,  yet 
lacks  the  inner  fires  and  the  quickening  spirit  of  the  soul. 
Waste  of  the  spiritual  forces  of  a  school  is  the  saddest 
of  all  waste.  Yet,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  present  mode 
of  training  teachers  and  of  organizing  them  into  the 
educative  forces  of  a  school  misdirects  and  even  suppresses 
much  of  the  spiritual  power  that  is  so  valuable  an  asset 
to  a  school,  and,  by  developing  a  mechanical  routine  in 
teaching  and  in  discipline,  brings  the  dead  hand  of 
formalism  to  cramp  if  not  to  crush  out  all  movement  of 
intelligence  and  spirit  in  teachers  and  taught. 

We  are  too  prone  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  schools 
to  bind  ourselves  by  tradition.  We  are  afraid  of  the 
new,  suspicious  of  change.  Yet  in  these  times  when 
new  forces  are  making  themselves  felt  in  the  social  econ- 
omy of  the  nation,  when  the  old  problems  have  changed, 
and  new  questions  have  to  be  solved,  we  must  face  the 
situation  with  open  minds,  not  in  the  revolutionary  spirit 
of  overthrowing  the  past,  but  with  the  clear  recognition 
that  new  conditions  demand  new  methods.  Then,  having 
grasped  with  a  broad  comprehension  and  with  clear  ap- 
prehension our  educational  conditions  and  needs,  we 
should  proceed  to  plan  out  an  organization  to  deal  with 
them  on  business-like  lines.  All  organization  should  be 
business-like.  Organization  does  not  discuss  ends  and 
aims  ;  it  concerns  itself  not  with  theory.  It  accepts  these 
and  tries  to  realize  them  in  terms  of  matter,  space  and 
time,  of  bricks  and  mortar,  of  apparatus,  of  time-tables 
and  the  like.  Organization,  then,  is  the  combining  and 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     205 

arranging  of  means  to  effect  an  end ;  only  in  education 
we  must  realize  with  our  whole  strength  that  the  end  is 
a  spiritual  end,  and,  therefore,  that  the  most  important 
part  of  the  organization  is  to  generate  the  greatest 
spiritual  force  in  the  teachers  and  bring  it  into  action 
on  the  pupils  with  the  greatest  momentum. 

If  organization  should  be  business-like,  let  us  examine 
some  of  the  ways  of  business,  and  consider  if  they  could 
not,  with  advantage,  be  applied  in  the  organization  of 
school  forces.  In  business  the  key  to  success,  after  such 
human  qualities  as  concentration  and  application,  is 
specialization  of  effort.  Specialization  produces  the 
greatest  efficiency  in  result  with  the  utmost  economy  in 
time,  energy,  and  material.  In  the  manufacture  of  an 
article  where  many  processes  go  to  the  making  of  the 
finished  product,  each  process  is  performed  by  a  special 
set  of  workmen  trained  to  that  especial  work,  and  each 
portion  of  the  work  is  carried  on  in  a  room  specially 
equipped  for  the  work  to  be  done  there.  In  this  way 
time  and  energy  are  not  wasted  for  want  of  proper  tools 
and  by  incompetence  in  the  handling  of  them.  Let  us 
see,  then,  if  this  principle  of  specialization,  so  important 
in  industry,  cannot  find  some  application  in  the  sphere 
of  school  education. 

The  school  attains  the  end  of  preparing  its  pupils  for 
life  by  engaging  them  in  the  learning  of  certain  subjects 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  certain  occupations.  To  be  success- 
ful in  this,  its  instructors  should  be  good  teachers,  that 
is,  they  should  induce  in  their  pupils  effective  learning  of 
the  right  kind.  But  the  power  to  teach  is  not  a  general 
power  in  the  sense  that  the  person  who  possesses  it  can 
teach  anything  and  everything.  It  is  not  a  master-key 
to  open  the  doors  to  every  subject.  Power  to  teach  is 
a  function  of  one's  power  over  the  subject  one  is  teach- 
ing, and  rises  and  falls  with  that  power.  Of  course,  it  is 


206        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

more  than  this.  It  involves,  too,  a  power  over  boys. 
The  teacher  should  be  familiar  with  the  peculiar  workings 
of  the  boy  mind.  He  should  know  what  kind  of  things 
and  activities  arouse  his  interest  and  will  stimulate  effort, 
and  what  modes  of  presenting  knowledge  will  awaken 
thought  and  imagination.  Such  a  knowledge  of  boys 
cannot  be  learnt  with  any  fulness  and  insight  from 
books,  nor  can  it  be  formulated  in  any  abstract  terms. 
The  true  teacher's  power  over  boys  is  like  the  good 
bowler's  power  over  the  ball.  The  bowler  gets  wickets, 
but  can  hardly  say  how  he  does  it.  He  complies  with 
the  laws  of  motion  but  he  doesn't  know  them,  and  would 
not  be  helped  by  them  if  he  did.  In  a  similar  way, 
though  not  by  any  means  to  so  great  an  extent,  the 
good  teacher  finds  it  difficult  to  formulate  his  know- 
ledge of  boys.  His  power  is  shown  in  the  more  or  less 
spontaneous  adaptation  of  his  teaching  and  managing 
to  the  varying  signs  of  interest,  effort,  and  thought  of 
the  living  boys  in  front  of  him.  He  deals  with  the  situ- 
ations as  they  arise  almost  instinctively,  certainly  largely 
automatically.  By  what  perceptions  and  intuitions  he 
obtains  his  quick  insight  into  each  situation,  it  is  difficult 
to  say.  Certainly,  sympathy  with  boys  and  intimate  and 
close  experience  of  them  and  of  the  way  they  respond 
and  show  response  count  heavily  in  success.  In  so  far  as 
a  teacher  has  this  power  over  boys,  he  has  a  general 
power  to  teach,  not  all  things,  but  those  things  of  which 
he  has  a  living  and  fruitful  knowledge ;  which  brings  us 
round  to  the  old  question  discussed  before,  as  to  the  char- 
acteristics of  real  as  distinct  from  sham  knowledge. 

The  effective  knowledge  in  life  we  have  seen  to  be  not 
a  possession  but  a  power,  a  dynamic  force  that  impels 
to  action  and  to  new  thought.  Its  essential  character- 
istics are  life  and  growth.  Like  the  tissues  of  the  body 
it  lives  by  ever  searching  for  food,  assimilating  it  and 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     207 

turning  it  into  the  power  of  continued  life  and  growth 
and  action.  It  is  never  still  and  quiescent.  Movement, 
ferment,  action  of  mind  and  body  are  its  essence.  To 
stagnate  is  to  go  back.  It  is  such  a  knowledge,  such  a 
living,  growing,  moving  power  that  a  teacher  of  a  subject 
should  have  in  a  marked  degree.  Ideas,  inquiries,  possible 
solutions,  paths  of  progress,  forms  of  application  should 
be  fermenting  continually  in  his  brain.  He  should  be  in 
touch  with  the  real  sources  of  knowledge,  feeding  his  mind 
by  direct  experience  of  things,  and  stimulating  it  by  the 
messages  of  the  great  apostles  of  truth.  He  should 
be  continually  turning  his  knowledge  over,  finding  new 
meanings  in  it,  new  forms  of  expression,  new  lines  of  ad- 
vancement and  new  outlets  for  applying  it,  and,  through- 
out, linking  it  up  with  the  real  lives  of  his  pupils  in  the 
present  and  in  the  future.  So  his  knowledge  would  be 
a  living  force,  and  not  a  bare  formula,  and  would  inspire 
in  his  pupils  a  learning  that  would  live  and  grow. 

If  the  teacher's  knowledge  is  that  of  the  mere  word, 
crammed  from  the  facts  and  artificial  exercises  of  the 
school  and  college  textbook,  he  may  fill  his  pupils' 
minds  with  facts,  cram  their  heads  with  information,  drill 
them  in  the  formal  routine  of  exercises,  and  give  them  the 
sham  knowledge  that  satisfies  an  examiner,  but  he  can- 
not bring  his  pupils  to  the  living  fount  of  knowledge,  nor 
stimulate  their  imagination  and  thought  to  the  ferment  of 
inquiry,  nor  lead  them  to  fruitful  application,  nor  inspire 
in  them  spontaneous  attraction  and  build  up  permanent 
interest.  He  cannot  inspire  in  his  pupils  more  than  is  in 
himself,  and  the  spirit  of  life  and  growth  is  not  in  him. 

Further,  power  in  each  subject  has  features  peculiar 
to  itself.  In  some,  like  literature,  music  and  art,  taste 
has  a  pre-eminent  position ;  in  some,  like  history  and 
geography,  full  power  comes  only  after  wide  and  full 
reading  and  with  the  help  of  a  sympathetic  imagination ; 


208        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

in  some,  like  natural  science,  perceptual  inquiry  into  ob- 
jective realities  is  a  marked  feature  ;  in  some,  like  handi- 
crafts and  drawing,  the  craftsman's  skill  and  feeling  are 
the  basis  of  success.  Success  in  any  branch  of  learning 
or  skill  thus  requires  powers  of  taste,  intellect,  imagina- 
tion, and  skill,  different  from  those  required  in  other 
branches.  How,  then,  can  one  teacher  be  successful  in 
all  ?  And,  above  all,  how  can  powers  in  every  subject  in 
the  curriculum  be  developed  to  such  a  strength  in  one 
man  as  to  be  the  founts  of  inspiration  for  others  ?  No, 
to  one  it  is  given  to  excel  in  one  branch,  or  perhaps 
in  one  group  of  allied  subjects,  to  another  in  a  different 
branch.  To  none  is  it  given  to  be  a  master  in  more  than 
a  few.  In  the  others,  he  must  be  content  to  be  a  menial 
workman,  grinding  out  a  more  or  less  mechanical  task. 

A  good  educational  organization  should  recognize  this 
limitation  of  human  interests  and  human  power,  as  a 
factory  organizer  recognizes  the  limitations  of  physical 
skill.  It  should  seek  to  organize  its  human  forces*  in 
such  a  way  as  to  develop  to  the  full  the  individual 
strength  of  each,  and  bring  the  full  force  of  the  combined 
strengths  of  the  staff  of  a  school  to  bear  on  the  pupils 
with  the  greatest  momentum.  In  other  words,  efficiency 
lies  in  each  teacher,  during  his  training,  specializing  on 
his  strong  side,  in  the  line  of  his  native  interests  and 
capacity,  and,  when  in  the  schools,  centreing  all  his 
teaching  efforts  on  the  particular  pursuits  in  which  he 
has  a  living  and  fruitful  power. 

Such  a  system  of  training  and  organizing  a  staff  is 
entirely  opposed  to  the  mode  of  training  and  organiza- 
tion at  present  adopted.  The  present  system  acts  on 
the  principle  that  a  teacher  can  be  trained  to  teach  all 
subjects,  if  not  equally  well,  yet  with  passable  efficiency. 
There  can  be  no  more  vital  mistake  than  this,  and  no 
sadder  waste  of  the  human  forces  of  education.  The 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     209 

system  only  too  often  succeeds  in  attaining  the  result  of 
teachers  teaching  all  subjects  equally  badly,  and  none 
with  real  success. 

Those  who  have  watched  the  teaching  in  our  primary 
schools  with  critical  understanding  are  struck  by  the 
marked  formalism  that  lies  like  a  dead  hand  on  a  large 
portion  of  the  teaching.  We  do  not  wish  to  find  any 
fault  with  the  personnel  of  the  staff  of  primary  schools. 
The  primary  school  teacher  is,  as  a  rule,  a  hardworking, 
conscientious,  and  capable  manager  of  bodies  of  pupils. 
But,  in  his  power  over  branches  of  knowledge  and  forms 
of  skill,  he  cannot  escape  from  the  system  that  has  pro- 
duced him,  and  in  which  he  works.  That  system  tries 
to  make  him  an  all-round  teacher  of  everything,  with 
no  regard  to  his  aptitudes  and  inclinations.  So  he  has 
drilled  into  him  the  elements  of  every  branch  of  know- 
ledge and  every  form  of  skill  that  are  required  in  primary 
schools.  He  reads  a  little,  a  very  little,  literature, 
history,  and  geography.  He  acquires  a  little,  a  very 
little,  skill  in  composition,  singing,  drawing,  handi- 
crafts, and  physical  exercises.  To  acquire  this  varied 
information  and  skill  in  two  short  years,  he  resorts  to 
cram — the  easiest  of  all  means  of  attaining  the  semblance 
of  knowledge  and  of  satisfying  an  examiner.  His  au- 
thorities are  textbooks  and  notes.  Hardly  ever  in  any 
subject  he  is  studying  does  he  read  and  digest  any  im- 
portant authorities,  or  dig  down  to  the  ultimate  sources 
of  knowledge.  Hardly  ever  does  he  engage  in  any 
independent  inquiry.  Compelled  by  the  system  to  be  a 
mental  sponge,  he  imbibes  and  memorizes.  True  spirit 
of  learning,  love  of  intellectual  culture,  zest  of  inquiry, 
initiative,  independent  thought,  hardly  find  any  oppor- 
tunity to  blossom  in  the  teacher's  soul,  for  his  mind  is  too 
little  fed  from  the  true  founts  of  learning  on  the  one  side, 
and  in  too  little  touch  with  the  practical  and  intellectual 


210        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

needs  of  life  on  the  other.  Knowing  little  of  learning 
but  cramming  and  memorizing,  able  to  fathom  no  deeper 
than  the  formulae  of  the  textbook,  how  can  he  lead  his 
pupils  to  learn  in  any  other  way  than  he  himself  has 
learnt  ?  So  the  formalism  of  the  textbook,  of  cram  and 
of  the  routine  of  mechanical  exercises,  out  of  touch  with 
reality  and  life,  repeats  itself  from  teacher  to  taught,  and 
from  generation  to  generation. 

During  his  period  of  training,  the  intending  teacher 
not  only  learns  the  many  and  various  branches  of  the 
primary  school  curriculum,  but  is  required  to  learn,  also, 
how  to  teach  all  these  subjects.  It  being  impossible,  in  so 
short  a  time,  to  consider  the  methods  of  teaching  in  re- 
lation to  the  details  of  each  subject  and  to  their  effect  on 
the  mind,  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  general  modes  and 
forms  of  teaching  in  the  hope  that  a  knowledge  of 
method  will  bolster  up  an  ignorance  of  the  subject- 
matter.  So,  in  a  training  college  there  is  presented  a 
most  curious  phenomenon.  There  are  students  learning 
the  methods  of  teaching  English  who  have  read  little  or 
no  literature,  who  cannot  turn  out  a  decent  page  of  Eng- 
lish composition,  and  whose  powers  of  oral  reading  are 
sometimes  more  feeble  than  those  of  the  children  they 
are  called  on  to  teach.1  What  is  true  with  regard  to 
English,  is  equally  true  with  regard  to  every  other  branch 
of  knowledge  and  skill  taught  in  a  training  college. 
Students  are  learning  the  modes  and  forms  of  teaching 
subjects  with  which  they  themselves  have,  too  often,  only 
a  lifeless  textbook  acquaintance. 

Such  a  mode  of  training  teachers  is  fatal.  There  is, 
of  course,  a  study  of  education  that  can  be  carried  on 

1  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  in  the  practising  or  demonstration  school  of 
a  training  college,  to  find  that  the  pupils  can  speak,  read,  write,  and 
compose  better  than  do  some  of  the  students  in  training  who  are  brought 
in  to  teach  them. 


STAFF :  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     211 

apart  from  the  study  of  the  special  school  subjects.  The 
relation  of  education  to  the  intellectual,  moral,  social, 
practical,  and  physical  aspects  of  life :  the  general  lines 
on  which  the  child  conducts  himself  as  an  individual, 
as  a  member  of  a  school  society,  under  discipline,  free 
from  control,  and  in  pursuit  of  learning  and  skill :  the 
stages  of  development  of  the  child's  powers  of  body 
and  mind  under  the  influence  of  the  home,  school,  and 
streets — these  are  educational  topics  that  can  be  studied 
generally.  They  will  give  an  outline  framework  about 
the  ends  of  life,  and  about  the  development  in  the  pupil 
of  powers  to  attain  these  ends  that  the  teacher  can  fill  in 
with  living  detail  as  he  gains  closer  acquaintance  with 
life  and  his  pupils.  All  this  is  to  the  good,  for,  if  studied 
in  the  right  way,  it  gives  an  attitude  to  teaching  that 
makes  for  enthusiasm  and  for  reflection  on  the  problems 
of  school  education.  When,  however,  the  training  takes 
up  the  teaching  of  the  various  school  subjects,  general 
formulae  are  of  little  use.  If  it  were  simply  a  matter  of 
imparting  the  formulae  of  knowledge,  then  a  general  teach- 
ing formula  might  suffice.  But  the  study  of  each  branch 
of  knowledge  and  of  skill,  as  we  have  seen,  demands  from 
the  students  an  intellectual  and  emotional  atmosphere 
and  power  peculiar  to  itself.  It  is  because  the  creation 
in  the  pupils  of  this  atmosphere  and  power  is  the  essence 
of  good  teaching,  that  a  teacher  can,  with  hopes  of  success, 
neither  teach  a  subject,  nor  study  the  teaching  of  it,  until 
he  has  experienced  that  spiritual  atmosphere  in  his  own 
being,  and  won  that  intellectual  power  by  right  learning. 
There  can  be  no  fruitful  study  of  the  methods  of  teaching 
apart  from  this.  There  is  no  method  apart  from  matter, 
no  form  apart  from  content ;  and  the  matter  or  content 
of  teaching  is  not  the  lifeless  expression  of  knowledge  in 
textbooks  or  on  the  lips  of  the  teacher,  but  the  ideas  that 
are  living  and  growing  in  the  teacher's  soul ;  and  the 

14* 


212       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

method  or  form  of  teaching  is  the  mode  in  which  the  living 
soul  of  the  teacher  induces  life  and  growth  in  the  souls 
of  his  pupils. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  training  in  teaching 
that  is  common  at  present  leads  to  a  mechanical  routine 
of  instruction,  empty  of  all  that  inspires  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  and  growth,  and  that  a  vicious  formalism 
saps  the  vitality  of  most  of  the  pursuits  carried  on  in  the 
primary  school. 

The  vicious  effect  of  his  training  is  seen  in  the  teacher's 
work  in  school.  Crammed  with  the  elements  of  all  the 
school  subjects,  brought  up  to  regard  memorizing  as  the 
only  mode  of  learning,  puffed  up  with  the  idea  that 
"  method"  is  a  substitute  for  knowledge,  he  enters  school. 
Like  a  middleman  in  commerce  he  peddles  out  his  wares, 
having  little  interest  in  them,  little  knowledge  of  their 
source  and  their  bearing  on  life,  content  to  impart  what 
he  possesses  with  the  least  trouble  to  himself  and  with 
the  least  agitation  among  his  pupils.  Continually  retail- 
ing the  same  bare  round  of  facts,  and  performing  the  same 
dull  round  of  exercises,  he  finds  little  incentive  in  him- 
self or  in  the  school  work  to  pursue  his  own  studies. 
Year  by  year  he  imparts  his  stock-in-trade,  and  year  by 
year  it  becomes  more  threadbare  and  worn.  He  soon 
acquires  the  knack  of  "  teaching  "  without  causing  undue 
commotion  among  his  pupils,  but  this  only  accentuates 
the  machine-like  monotony  that  is  crushing  all  spirit  and 
freshness  out  of  him  and  his  teaching.  He  finally  be- 
comes a  teaching  machine.  The  poison  of  the  system 
has  completed  its  work.  As  a  teacher  he  is  dead. 

Such  criticism  on  the  primary  teacher  may  seem 
severe.  It  is  a  criticism,  however,  not  on  him,  but  on 
the  system  of  which  he  is  a  victim.  Every  teacher  does 
not  succumb  entirely  to  the  poison  of  routine  and  formal- 
ism. We  are  glad  to  say  we  know  many  teachers  whose 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     213 

liking,  innate  or  cultivated,  for  some  branch  of  knowledge 
or  art  has  been  too  strong  to  be  utterly  crushed  by  the 
daily  round  of  teaching  a  multiplicity  of  subjects.  In 
this  branch  their  knowledge  is  alive,  their  teaching 
sparkles  with  freshness,  their  imagination  and  thought 
move  freely  and  spontaneously  pushing  their  way  into 
new  realms  of  inquiry  and  suggesting  new  methods  of 
teaching,  and  their  pupils  sympathetically  respond  with 
lively  interest,  willing  effort,  and  creative  thought.  Such 
a  power  of  knowing  and  teaching,  however,  lives  not 
because  of  the  system  but  in  spite  of  it.  The  system 
condemns  every  teacher  to  try  to  know  everything  and 
to  teach  everything,  and  its  worth  is  to  be  judged  not 
by  what  thrives  in  spite  of  its  blighting  breath,  but 
rather  by  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  knowledge  and 
teaching  in  those  many  other  subjects  for  which  a  teacher 
has  no  liking  and  in  which  he  has  no  living  power.  By 
that  test  the  system  stands  condemned  ;  and  we  condemn 
it  because  the  inclination,  aptitude,  and  power  being 
present  in  many  teachers  in  an  intense  form,  it  ignores 
them  and  forces  each  and  all,  whatever  be  their  strength 
and  weakness,  to  the  same  task  to  make  of  a  large 
portion  of  it  a  weary  grind  of  monotonous  routine. 

If  such  is  the  result  on  the  teachers,  what  is  the  effect 
on  the  pupils  ?  Look  through  the  primary  schools  of 
England  and  discover  if  generally  the  pupils  in  them  are 
stirred  by  a  love  of  learning,  a  zest  for  truth,  zeal  in 
inquiry,  and  a  spirit  of  true  work.  No  one  can  assert 
that  such  features  are  common  in  our  schools,  and  yet 
the  teachers  are  dealing  with  the  young,  whose  freshness 
and  spontaneity  in  inquiry  and  action  are  perhaps  stronger 
than  at  any  other  period  of  life.  The  system  of  training 
and  organizing  the  staff  has  crushed  the  spirit  of  learning 
out  of  the  scholars  as  it  crushed  it  out  of  the  teachers. 
No  human  being  can  bring  to  the  teaching  of  so  great  a 


214        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

variety  of  subjects  the  freshness,  sparkle,  and  inspiration 
that  come  only  from  a  mind  keen  with  enthusiasm,  and 
quick  with  growing  ideas  ;  and  these,  alone,  will  inspire  a 
living  growth  in  the  pupils. 

The  results  of  the  system  are  seen  in  teachers  of 
English  who  do  not  read ;  teachers  of  history  and  geo- 
graphy whose  sources  are  the  school  textbook ;  teachers 
of  nature  study  who  have  never  explored  the  fields  and 
hedges  of  their  own  countryside ;  teachers  of  drawing 
who,  if  they  own  a  sketch-book,  would  blush  to  show 
it ;  teachers  of  music  who  have  no  ear.  Can  anyone 
wonder  that  the  pupils  are  kept  year  after  year  in  the 
most  elementary  stages  of  every  branch  of  knowledge 
and  skill  that  they  study,  that  seldom  do  they  advance 
to  any  power  of  value,  that  they  are  filled  with  no  en- 
thusiasm for  learning  and  work,  that  they  acquire  no  real 
power  of  independent  action,  that  they  cannot  read  or 
study  for  themselves,  and,  finally,  that  they  perceive  no 
value  in  what  they  learn?  The  most  fatal  criticism  that 
is  being  passed  on  the  present  system  of  teaching  in 
primary  schools  is  the  delight  the  primary  school  boy 
has  in  leaving  it.  After  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age  the 
boy's  outlook  on  life  is  changing,  and  he  is  beginning 
to  evaluate  things  in  terms  of  the  needs  of  his  present  life 
and  of  his  future  employment.  He  finds  the  school  pur- 
suits out  of  touch  with  both  and,  in  consequence,  the 
teacher  finds  it  increasingly  hard  to  interest  him  in 
studies  that  do  not  live  either  for  him  or  his  teacher. 
The  boy  longs  to  break  away  to  realities,  to  deal  with 
the  things  that  matter,  and  he  looks  forward  to  the 
leaving  age  to  bring  him  into  living  contact  with  the 
important  things  of  life. 

In  the  senior  artisan  school  there  is  no  time  for  waste 
of  teaching  effort.  There  is  beginning  the  more  serious 
and  more  direct  preparation  for  a  life  beyond  the  school, 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     215 

and  three  short  years  are  all  too  little  a  time  to  give  the 
boy  such  interests  and  power  as  will  fit  him  to  start  on 
the  further  journey  to  manhood,  which  he  must  take 
largely  without  help.  At  the  end  of  his  schooldays 
the  tendencies  to  culture,  to  practical  power,  and  to 
physical  manhood  should  be  more  than  weak  seedlings 
struggling  for  life.  Their  roots  should  be  taking  firm 
hold.  Their  branches  should  be  spreading  and  their 
leaves  expanding  to  broader  realms  of  air  and  light. 
Even  should  there  be  some  buds  of  promise  opening  to 
prove  to  the  boy  that  his  school  work  has  purified, 
sweetened,  and  strengthened  his  life,  and  that  it  has 
been  something  more  than  a  task  and  a  preparation. 

Further,  the  artisan  boy  is  beginning  to  be  more 
conscious  of  himself  as  an  individual  in  a  world  of  com- 
petition. He  is  looking  ahead  to  dealing  with  the  hard 
facts  of  life  and  to  earning  his  own  living  with  his  hands 
and  brain,  and  his  fighting  instincts  and  his  growing 
sense  of  independence  are  welcoming  the  struggle. 
With  his  mind  increasingly  fixed  on  these  realities,  he  is 
not  content  to  occupy  his  time  in  school  with  elementary 
routine  and  formalities.  His  instincts,  especially  the 
practical  and  physical,  are  asking  for  food,  and  for  de- 
veloped power  to  deal  with  the  needs  of  life  as  he  sees 
them.  He  is  ready,  nay  anxious,  to  work,  and  the  ca- 
pacity of  his  intelligence  and  of  his  physical  powers  will 
carry  him  far,  if  only  the  teacher  can  and  will  take  him 
along  the  line  of  his  interests.  But  marking  time  over 
mechanical  routine,  and  circling  round  and  round  in  the 
elementary  stages  of  some  branch  of  knowledge  or  skill, 
disgust  him.  Do  not  let  us  wrongly  estimate  the  boy 
at  this  age.  He  wants  to  advance;  he  is  willing  to 
make  effort ;  he  has  the  capacity  for  making  good  pro- 
gress in  knowledge  and  skill ;  but  he  must  feel  the 
value  of  what  he  is  asked  to  do. 


216        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

On  every  ground,  then,  the  pupils  of  the  senior  artisan 
school  need  teachers  who  by  their  enthusiasm  can  inspire 
interest  in  what  they  teach  ;  who  by  their  power  over  their 
subject  can  advance  the  pupils  to  a  stage  where  value  is 
perceptible ;  who  by  their  teaching  can  feed  and  uplift 
the  intellectual  and  practical  tendencies  of  their  pupils. 
Only  subject  teachers  can  do  this.  Class  teachers  are  so 
overwhelmed  by  the  impossibility  of  preparing  themselves 
to  teach  a  multiplicity  of  subjects,  that  they  fall  into  the 
habit  of  preparing  nothing  at  all.  The  subject  teacher, 
on  the  other  hand,  limited  to  a  narrower  field  in  which 
his  interests  and  aptitudes  move  freely,  has  every  incentive 
and  opportunity  to  make  himself  a  teacher  of  power. 
Further,  his  interest  stimulates  him  to  study  methods  of 
teaching,  and  he  is  not  content  with  a  formula  to  be  me- 
chanically applied,  but  seeks  a  method  that  will  make 
his  teaching  a  living  force. 

Staffed  by  such  teachers,  the  primary  school  would 
begin  a  new  era  in  its  history.  In  the  past  it  has  failed 
to  win  the  approval  of  its  elder  pupils  who  in  general 
have  tacitly  condemned  its  teaching.  With  teachers  whose 
knowledge  lives  in  their  heads  and  hearts  and  hands,  there 
would  spring  up  a  new  spirit  of  learning.  The  pupils 
would  feel  that  school  learning  had  a  value  for  them  both 
in  the  sphere  of  their  practical  interests,  and  also  as  an 
uplifting  and  sweetening  influence  in  their  lives. 

The  revolution,  or  rather  evolution,  from  class  to 
subject  teachers  carries  with  it  a  change  in  the  mode  of 
training  teachers.  The  training  should  be  conducted  so 
as  to  develop  their  powers  as  learners  and  teachers  in 
the  line  of  their  inclinations  and  aptitudes.  But  a  wider 
question  is  involved  than  that  of  training  the  power  to 
teach  a  subject.  A  teacher  should  be  more  than  an  in- 
structor, he  ought  to  be  an  educator. 

The  qualities  demanded  of  a  teacher  may  be  divided 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     217 

into  those  that  are  fundamental  to  the  work  of  an  educator, 
regardless  of  the  nature  of  the  subject  taught,  and  those 
determined  by  the  subject  itself.  The  former  class  of 
qualities  is  required  by  all  teachers.  There  is,  then,  a 
certain  portion,  or  rather  aspect,  of  training  that  must  be 
considered  common  to  all,  and  it  is  important  to  know 
exactly  what  this  is. 

One  who  undertakes  the  guidance  of  youth  towards 
the  goal  of  manhood  must  himself  be  a  man.  He  must 
have  those  qualities  of  intellectual  culture  and  upright 
and  manly  character  that  are  recognized  as  the  attributes 
of  English  manhood.  Further,  a  teacher  should  have  the 
teaching  personality  by  which  he  can  dominate  the  boys' 
youthful  impulses,  win  their  respect,  and  yet  do  these  in 
a  manner  to  draw  their  affection.  To  this  personal 
power  should  be  added  an  aptitude  in  instructing,  which 
comes  from  viewing  problems  from  the  standpoint  of 
youth,  and  not  from  the  high  pinnacle  of  the  advanced 
student. 

Culture,  manhood,  and  teaching  personality  and  apti- 
tude are,  then,  qualities  demanded  of  all  teachers,  and 
the  question  naturally  arises,  "  How  is  the  training 
college  to  develop  them  ?  "  There  is  still  heard  at  times 
the  voice  of  the  "untrained  man"  calling  out  that  "a 
teacher  is  born  not  made  ".  Every  one,  of  course,  must 
admit  that  much  of  manhood,  of  the  direction  culture 
takes,  and  of  teaching  personality  are  due  to  innate 
temperament  and  power.  Yet  there  is  much  that  is  due 
to  wise  and  sympathetic  guidance  from  the  cradle  on- 
ward. This  is  admitted  in  the  case  of  culture  and  man- 
hood, or  why  do  schools,  colleges,  and  universities  exist  ? 
It  is  often  denied  of  teaching  personality  by  those  who 
condemn  training  in  teaching.  The  teaching  personality 
is  largely  evolved  from  the  egoistic,  social  and  sympa- 
thetic tendencies  which  open  out  first  under  the  home 


218        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

influences.  These  become  stronger  and  more  manly  in 
the  social  competition  and  co-operation  of  the  school 
and  world.  Those  who  have,  in  their  home  or  school 
life,  been  placed  in  a  position  of  authority  over  and  re- 
sponsibility for  others,  have  their  innate  tendencies  early 
moulded  on  authoritative  and  sympathetic  lines.  In- 
deed, the  authoritative  personality  is  largely  the  out- 
come of  occupying  positions  of  increasing  responsibility 
from  boyhood  onward. 

Much,  then,  of  teaching  personality  is  in  the  making 
long  before  a  student  enters  a  training  college,  and  can 
be  attributed  in  a  large  measure  to  a  happy  combination 
of  a  good  home,  a  good  school,  and  a  good  circle  of 
friends.  In  the  light  of  this  analysis,  there  is  much  to 
be  said  for  the  old  system  of  pupil-teachership  which, 
whatever  its  evils,  and  they  were  many,  encouraged  a 
teaching  personality  at  a  time  when  the  character  was 
impressionable.  As  for  the  present  bursar  system,  it  is 
to  be  feared  that,  unless  the  innate  tendencies  on  which 
the  teaching  personality  is  based  are  drawn  out  in  some 
way  before  the  boy  arrives  at  the  training  college,  they 
are  doomed  to  a  warped  and  stunted  growth,  and  never 
will  gain  that  instinctive  spontaneity  that  is  the  result 
only  of  an  earlier  growth  in  a  favourable  environment. 
Again,  in  choosing  candidates  to  be  teachers,  great  im- 
portance should  be  attached  to  the  homes  from  which 
they  come.  A  cultured  home,  a  circle  of  cultured 
friends,  a  home  discipline  that  encourages  a  wise  social 
activity  are  great  assets  in  the  making  of  a  teacher. 

The  work  of  the  training  college  is  to  encourage  still 
further  the  teaching  personality,  partly  by  a  many-sided 
social  life  in  the  college,  and  partly  by  directing  its 
action  towards  the  influencing  of  the  young  in  the  class- 
room and  in  their  games,  pastimes,  and  excursions  out- 
of-doors.  The  student's  power  over  pupils  should  not  be 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     219 

starved  by  a  merely  classroom  practice ;  it  should  be 
broadened,  and  made  freer  and  more  intimate  by  direct- 
ing bodies  of  pupils  in  all  kinds  of  outdoor  pursuits.  A 
training  college  school  camp,  for  example,  is  an  admir- 
able set-off  to  the  more  formal  training  carried  on  in 
the  school  buildings. 

On  the  culture  side,  the  training  college  should  provide 
for  each  and  all  a  generous  and  liberal  curriculum.  No 
training  can  be  considered  adequate  that  does  not  give 
a  broad  and  inspiring  instruction  in  literature,  history 
and  geography,  and  natural  science.  These  should  form 
the  broad  basis  of  every  man's  intellectual  culture. 

A  teacher,  we  have  said,  should  be  an  educator,  and 
the  theory  of  education  is  more  than  a  knowledge  of  the 
methods  and  devices  of  the  classroom.  A  broad  grasp 
of  education  demands  a  clear  conception  of  the  ideals  of 
life,  of  what,  indeed,  might  be  called  a  philosophy  of  life. 
No  one  can  intelligently  discuss  the  development  of 
human  powers — intellectual,  moral,  social,  and  physical — 
without  having  outlined  to  himself  with  some  definite- 
ness  ideals  of  culture,  virtue,  society,  and  physical  man- 
hood. That  education  and  a  philosophy  of  life  are 
intimately  linked  together,  is  evident  in  the  works  of 
those  philosophers  from  Plato  to  Spencer  whose  concep- 
tions of  life  have  influenced  their  age.  They  all  begin  by 
elaborating  a  system  of  philosophy,  and  end  by  construct- 
ing a  system  of  education.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  ? 
Having  formulated  their  ideal  of  what  man's  life  should 
be,  they  are  faced  at  once  with  the  problem  of  the  realiz- 
ation of  it  through  the  education  of  the  young. 

The  study  of  education  further  rests  on  a  knowledge 
of  the  powers  of  the  mind  and  body  and  of  the  condi- 
tions that  determine  their  development.  These  powers, 
however,  are  many,  and  to  study  the  development  of 
one,  say  the  intellectual  tendencies,  and  ignore  the 


220        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

others  is  bound  to  distort  one's  view  of  education  as  the 
development  of  the  whole  human  being.  Hence  de- 
velopment should  be  studied  broadly  in  its  biological, 
physical,  intellectual,  moral  and  social  aspects.  It 
should  be  noted,  however,  that  this  study  is  not  the 
study  of  the  abstract  sciences  of  biology,  physiology, 
etc.,  nor  is  it  the  consideration  of  the  application  of 
these  sciences  to  education.  Psychology  and  applied 
psychology,  for  example,  are  of  little  direct  value  in  the 
art  of  teaching.  The  psychological  study  that  is  essen- 
tial to  education  is  that  which  deals  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  human  intelligence  from  infancy  to  manhood 
along  those  lines  that  will  culminate  in  a  manhood  of 
intellectual,  moral,  social,  practical  and  physical  power. 
At  every  stage  the  study  of  it  should  be  dominated  by 
considerations  not  only  of  what  innate  powers  of  mind 
and  body  the  child,  boy,  and  youth  possess,  but  of  the 
ideals  of  life  towards  which  education  should  develop 
them.  It  is  a  study,  then,  not  of  psychology  by  itself, 
but  of  a  psychology  of  development  determined  by  logical, 
ethical,  social,  practical  and  physical  ideals  of  life  ;  which 
is  quite  a  different  matter.  Similar  considerations  hold, 
too,  of  the  study  in  their  educational  aspects  of  logic, 
ethics,  and  physiology,  which,  it  is  obvious  from  the 
above  remarks,  should  be  studied  in  close  relation  with 
the  psychological  aspect  of  education. 

A  philosophy  of  life  and  the  sciences  of  human  de- 
velopment, then,  are  fundamental  studies  in  the  training 
of  a  teacher,  if  he  is  to  be  something  more  than  a  mere 
classroom  worker.  The  catalogue  of  these  may  appear 
somewhat  ominous  to  the  student,  but  in  reality  it  is  not 
so  ominous  as  it  seems.  A  full  and  detailed  study  of 
them  is  not  necessary,  for  a  teacher  does  not  need  to  be 
an  expert  in  each.  The  study  of  them  gives  very  little 
direct  help  in  the  actual  work  of  teaching,  but  it  does 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     221 

cultivate  an  attitude  of  mind  that  is  all-important  to 
the  teacher.  The  course  in  them  should  be  broad  and 
stimulating,  but  not  detailed,  and  certainly  should  leave 
untouched  questions  that  are  merely  metaphysically  philo- 
sophical, formally  ethical  or  psychological,  or  purely 
physiological.  The  educator  has  no  use  for  these.  What 
detailed  work  is  done  should  be  by  the  introspective 
examination,  by  the  student,  of  the  nature  and  develop- 
ment of  those  interests,  habits,  thoughts  and  ideals  which 
he  perceives  govern  his  own  life,  and  by  the  examination 
of  the  activity  of  pupils  in  the  classroom  and  in  their 
outdoor  life,  to  discover  the  nature  and  operation  of  those 
tendencies  that  express  themselves  in  the  pupils'  feelings, 
thoughts,  and  actions. 

Finally,  in  the  training  that  is  common  to  all  teachers, 
must  be  included  instruction  and  practice  in  those  arts 
that  may  be  called  the  instruments  of  teaching.  A 
teacher,  like  a  preacher,  depends  on  his  voice,  and  both 
should  train  themselves  to  use  it  with  clearness  and 
with  expressive  power.  In  addition  to  his  voice,  a 
teacher  is  dependent  on  the  blackboard,  and  writing  and 
sketching  thereon — great  acquisitions — do  not  come  by 
nature  alone. 

Such  is  the  training  that  should  be  common  to  all 
teachers,  to  the  teacher  of  literature  equally  with  the 
teacher  of  nature  knowledge  and  handicrafts.  Our 
schools  have  no  use  for  the  specialist  without  manhood, 
without  general  culture,  without  teaching  personality, 
and  without  a  broad  and  rational  outlook  on  education. 
A  teacher,  however  much  his  interest  is  concentrated  on 
one  branch  of  the  school  curriculum,  is  first  and  foremost 
an  educator  of  boys,  seeking  with  the  co-operation  of 
others  to  fit  his  pupils  for  life.  He  will  do  this  well  just 
in  so  far  as  he  makes  his  influence  felt  in  the  school  as  a 
whole  by  openly  identifying  himself  with  its  aims,  its 


222        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

discipline,  its  outdoor  games,  and  its  social  life.  If  he 
limit  the  horizon  of  his  duty  and  his  influence  by  the 
four  walls  of  his  classroom  and  by  the  hours  appointed 
by  the  time-table,  he  will  fail  in  the  more  important  part 
of  his  work,  however  successful  he  may  be  in  the 
narrower  work  of  instruction.  Some  such  advice  is  not 
out  of  place  at  present.  In  many  schools  subject 
teachers  show  a  tendency  to  shut  themselves  up  in  their 
own  subject,  and  in  their  own  little  domain.  In  doing 
this  they  are  negating  the  fundamental  conception  of  a 
school  which  is  a  living  community  of  teachers  and 
scholars.  The  school  is  a  real  community  influencing 
the  character  of  each  pupil  when  all,  teachers  and 
scholars,  feel  the  corporate  life  and  work  for  the  common 
end.  There  is  no  real  school  if  there  be  merely  a 
number  of  instructors,  in  a  number  of  separate  rooms, 
giving  lessons  to  a  number  of  pupils  who  successively 
gyrate  round  a  number  of  separate  centres.  It  is  be- 
cause a  teacher  has  to  play  a  full  part  in  the  general  life 
of  the  school  that  much  of  his  training  in  culture,  in 
educational  philosophy,  and  in  teaching  personality  should 
have  a  wide  and  general  bearing  and  be  taken  in  common 
with  every  member  of  the  training  college. 

The  student  being  a  prospective  subject  teacher,  a 
portion  of  his  training  should  proceed  on  special  lines. 
Each  student  should  have  the  option  of  choosing  some 
branch  of  knowledge  in  which  he  will  advance  to  a 
wider  range  and  with  fuller  detail  than  in  the  subjects 
of  the  general  curriculum.  The  number  of  alternatives 
should  not  be  too  large,  and  each  alternative  should  not 
be  too  narrow  in  scope.  The  danger  to  which  special- 
ism is  prone,  is  narrowness  of  outlook,  and  this  danger 
should  be  avoided  partly  by  making  a  general  intellec- 
tual culture  compulsory  on  all,  and  further,  by  having 
each  special  course  fairly  broad  in  scope. 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     223 

The  following  courses  are  suggested  as  suitable  branches 
in  which  to  specialize  : — 

1.  Humanistic  Studies — 

(a)  English  Literature  and  Language,  and  History. 
(#)  History  and  Geography  (largely  on  its  human 

side). 
(c)  English  Literature  and  Language,  and  Music. 

2.  Naturalistic  Studies  : — 

(a)  Physical  Science  and  Practical  Mathematics. 
(ft)  Botanical   and   Zoological    Science   and    Geog- 
raphy (largely  on  its  physical  side). 

3.  Practical  Mathematics,  Mechanics,  and  Handicrafts. 

4.  Art    subjects :     Drawing,    Painting,    Carving    and 
Modelling. 

In  allocating  the  time  between  the  general  culture  sub- 
jects and  those  for  special  study,  various  plans  suggest 
themselves.  The  one  perhaps  most  simple  is  to  devote 
the  first  year  of  college  training  mainly  to  general  culture 
subjects,  and  the  second  year  mainly  to  special  study. 
In  both  years,  of  course,  the  professional  study  in  educa- 
tion and  school  method  should  be  carried  on. 

In  the  special  subjects  the  methods  of  learning  should 
be  markedly  different  from  those  adopted  in  the  general 
culture  course.  Towards  the  subjects  of  the  latter  the 
student  should  be  largely  in  a  receptive  attitude.  There 
is  hardly  time  for  him  to  do  more  than  assimilate  the 
thoughts  of  others,  come  to  some  understanding  of  them, 
and  try  to  make  them  his  own  as  far  as  possible.  The 
student  is  not  sufficiently  advanced  or  at  home  in  the 
subjects  for  methods  of  independent  inquiry  to  have 
place,  even  were  there  time  for  these.  We  must  be  con- 
tent to  see  him  pluck  the  flowers  of  knowledge,  and  not 
be  too  careful  of  how  the  tree  is  grown.  Assimilation 
of  ideas,  however,  must  not  be  confused  with  passivity  of 
mind.  It  is  not  mere  imbibing.  As  has  been  seen  in 


224        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

our  analysis  of  the  mental  processes  of  learning,1  in  as- 
similation there  is  ample  room  for  active  and  original 
thought  in  the  mode  of  understanding,  applying,  and  ex- 
pressing ideas. 

In  the  special  studies  the  mode  of  learning  should  be 
marked  by  more  independent  and  original  inquiry.  The 
creative  side  of  the  mind,  rather  than  the  receptive,  should 
be  encouraged.  The  student  should  realize  by  personal 
experience  what  it  means  to  gain  knowledge  at  first-hand. 
He  should  learn  to  gather  facts  for  himself,  and  mark  the 
difference  between  piling  up  information  and  the  finer 
mental  process  of  comparing  and  weighing  facts  and  judg- 
ing of  their  bearing  on  an  inquiry.  His  mind  should  be 
encouraged  to  leap  in  creative  hypothesis  beyond  the  per- 
ceived facts  to  the  imagined  explanation,  and  then  proceed, 
holding  his  hypothesis  in  leash,  to  develop  and  test  it  by 
further  critical  observations  and  experiments.  By  such 
methods  he  will  learn  at  first-hand  the  meaning  of 
knowledge  and  inquiry,  and  know,  as  only  those  who  are 
inquirers  can  know,  how  to  discriminate  between  possi- 
bility and  probability,  error  and  truth. 

Such  a  mode  of  study  is,  in  real  truth,  a  "  logic  ".  It 
is  logic  in  a  concrete  form,  implicit  in  the  experience  of 
learning;  and  it  is  just  this  " logic"  of  the  making  of 
knowledge  that  the  teacher  needs  to  guide  him  in  leading 
the  immature  mind  to  creative  efforts  to  gain  know- 
ledge. So  important  to  the  teacher  is  this  experience  of 
"  knowledge  making,"  that  we  will  go  further  and  ask 
that  the  processes  of  inquiry,  implicit  in  the  experience 
of  it,  should  be  made  explicit  by  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  them  to  bring  out  the  laws  of  thought  that 
govern  the  establishing  of  truth.  We  are  loath  to  call 
such  a  study  logic.  The  name  suggests  something  too 
abstract  and  formal  for  our  liking.  Rather  do  we  mean 

1  See  chap,  iii,  p.  76. 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     225 

that  the  actual  inquiries  that  the  students  themselves 
have  carried  out  should  be  analysed  to  lay  bare  the 
logical  principles  involved  in  observation  and  experi- 
ment, in  the  accepting  and  rejecting  of  testimony,  and  in 
the  suggesting,  unfolding,  and  testing  of  possible  ex- 
planations ;  and  that,  on  the  basis  of  these  examinations, 
there  should  be  constructed  some  fairly  consistent  and 
systematic  idea  of  knowledge  and  the  method  of  know- 
ledge. Such  a  study  of  "  logic,"  arising  out  of  the 
student's  own  processes  of  study  and  leading  back  to 
them  to  refine  and  temper  them,  would  be  felt  by  him  to 
be  of  vital  importance  to  him  both  as  a  teacher  and  as  a 
learner. 

The  organization  of  subject  teachers  on  the  staff  of  a 
school  presents  difficulties  of  detail  rather  than  of  prin- 
ciple. To  the  lay  mind  the  matter  may  appear  a  simple 
one.  Allot  a  teacher  to  each  subject,  and  the  thing  is 
done.  Those,  however,  who  have  struggled  to  adjust 
the  claims  of  classes,  subjects,  and  teachers  within  the 
narrow  and  strict  confines  of  a  time-table  know  that 
many  unseen  sandbanks  and  hidden  rocks  beset  the 
course  of  the  schoolmaster. 

Let  us  take  a  concrete  case  of  a  school  of  nine  classes, 
three  in  each  year.  The  first  thing  to  decide  is  a  mean 
between  the  amount  of  time  we  should  like  to  give  to 
each  subject,  and  the  minimum  time  that  the  subject 
must  have.  Naturally  the  time  to  be  given  to  each 
branch  of  the  curriculum  will  vary  from  year  to  year. 
As  the  pupils  advance  through  the  school,  practical 
subjects  will  become  of  increasing  importance,  and  will 
demand  a  greater  share  of  the  time.  For  the  sake  of 
convenience,  however,  let  us  be  content  for  the  present 
with  an  average  time  for  each  subject. 

The  following  table  gives  the  times  that  should  be 
given  to  each  subject : — 

IS 


226        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 


English  (a)  Reading  and  Literature    .     4! 


Lessons.  Hours. 

! 

omposition  .         .         •     3/ 
History  .....     2          =  i£ 

Geography      .         .         .          .         .2          =  i| 

Nature  Knowledge  .         .          .2          =  i-J 

Art         ......     2          =  i£ 

Music     .         .         .         .         .         .2          =i 

Mathematics 

(a)  Class  Exercise  .         •     3\        =  4 

(£)  Practical  Measurements       .     2} 
Handicrafts    .....     2  to  3  =  3  to  4^ 

Gymnasium  Contests  .  .  .2  =  i 
Playground  Games  .  .  .2  =  I 
Field  Games  .  .  .  I  =2 

For  nine  classes  the  times  for  each  of  the  subjects 
(leaving  out  the  physical  pursuits  for  the  present)  total 
as  follows  :  — 

Hours. 

English  .         .         •  45 

History.         .         .  13^ 

Geography      .         ..  :IJ4 
Nature  Knowledge  . 
Art         .         .         . 
Music     ...       9 

Mathematics  .         .  36 

Handicrafts    .         .  27  to  40^ 

It  is  obvious  that  the  subjects  of  English,  Mathematics, 
and  Handicrafts  will  require  more  than  one  teacher,  and 
that  each  of  the  other  subjects  will  not  occupy  the  whole 
time  of  one  teacher,  while  two  such  subjects  will  make 
too  big  demands  on  the  time  of  one. 

The  practical  solution  lies  in  requiring  each  member 
of  the  staff  to  have  two  strings  to  his  bow,  i.e.  to  teach 
a  subject  which  we  shall  call  his  principal  subject,  for 


STAFF:  TRAINING  AND  ORGANIZATION     227 

which  he  is  mainly  responsible,  and  also  a  subsidiary 
subject,  which  is  the  principal  subject  of  another  teacher. 
On  the  whole  body  of  the  staff  each  subject  will  be 
represented  at  least  once  by  a  teacher  who  claims  it  as 
his  principal  subject,  and  through  whose  hands  each 
pupil  will  pass  for  a  considerable  portion  of  his  school 
time  in  that  subject. 

Each  subject  will,  then,  be  represented  on  the  staff  at 
least  twice,  and  in  cases  like  English  and  Mathematics 
three  and  four  times.  For  example,  the  following  might 
represent  the  qualifications  of  the  staff  of  the  school  out- 
lined above : — 

Principal.  Subsidiary. 

1.  Teacher  of  English.  Music. 

2.  „  English.  History. 

3.  „  History.  English. 

4.  „  Geography.  History. 

5.  „  Nature  Study  Geography. 

6.  „  Art.  Nature  Study. 

7.  ,,  Mathematics.  Handicrafts. 

8.  ,,  Mathematics.  Geography. 

9.  „  Handicrafts.  Mathematics. 
10.  ,,  Handicrafts.  Art. 

Such  an  arrangement,  it  is  obvious,  will  give  the 
head  master  a  freer  hand  to  adjust  the  claims  of  classes, 
subjects,  and  teachers. 

Gymnastics  and  games  we  have  left  for  special  con- 
sideration. In  each  school  there  should  be  a  special 
teacher  whose  chief  domain  will  be  the  gymnasium.  He 
will  instruct  the  pupils  in  running,  jumping,  leaping, 
climbing,  boxing  and  wrestling.  We  cannot,  however, 
consent  to  see  the  gymnasium  instructor  solely  respon- 
sible for  the  outdoor  games.  Games  aim  at  something 
higher  than  health  and  strength.  From  them  we  hope 


228        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

to  obtain  a  strong  esprit  de  corps,  a  spirit  of  self-control, 
and  a  hardy  manliness.  In  this  work  we  would  see 
every  member  of  the  staff  engaged.  We  think,  more- 
over, that  the  members  of  the  staff  would  wish  to  enter 
into  this  freer  and  friendlier  aspect  of  school  life.  Many 
teachers  have,  in  common  with  their  pupils,  a  great 
pleasure  in  physical  exercise,  and  many  have  consider- 
able skill  in  games  and  in  training  boys  in  playing  them. 
This  interest,  skill,  and  aptitude  should  not  be  wasted. 
They  will  be  bonds  uniting  teachers  and  scholars  in 
friendly  interest  from  which  will  spring  a  willing  spirit, 
a  healthy  tone,  and  a  strong  corporate  feeling  which 
will  find  their  way  into  the  indoor  life  of  the  school. 
The  intensity  and  quality  of  the  esprit  de  corps  in  a 
school  rest  very  largely  on  the  life  of  the  pupils  outside 
the  classrooms.  If  the  teachers  as  a  body  are  to 
mould  that  spirit,  refine  it,  and  reap  the  benefit  of  it  in 
a  powerful  personal  influence,  they  must  enter  whole- 
heartedly into  all  that  is  concerned  with  the  outdoor  life 
of  the  pupils. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT. 

SPECIALIZATION,  adopted  as  one  of  the  main  principles 
of  the  school  organization,  should  be  applied  thoroughly 
to  all  its  branches,  to  buildings  and  equipment  no  less 
than  to  the  human  instruments  of  instruction.  The 
culmination  of  the  principle  is  seen  in  a  collection  of 
rooms,  each  specially  fitted  for  carrying  on  one  of  the 
pursuits  of  the  school  and  in  charge  of  a  teacher  with 
special  knowledge  and  skill  in  the  teaching  of  that 
pursuit. 

The  present-day  ideal  of  primary  school  buildings, 
like  the  present-day  organization  of  the  staff,  displays  a 
beautiful  simplicity  and  uniformity  of  design,  a  delight 
to  the  architect  and  furniture-maker,  and  to  the  casual 
visitor.  The  approved  plan  of  buildings  consists  of  a  large 
central  hall,  ringed  with  classrooms  as  like  as  peas,  and 
equipped  with  desks  and  blackboards  having  a  similar 
monotony  of  design.  The  whole  is  admirably  designed 
to  herd  flocks  of  pupils  to  sit  reading,  writing,  and  pas- 
sively listening.  The  clerkly  ideal  has  materialized 
itself  in  buildings  and  furniture  constructed  to  inculcate 
the  ideals  and  develop  the  habits  and  habitudes  of  a 
sedentary  existence.  Nowhere  in  the  structure  can  one 
discern  adaptation  to  diversity  of  pursuits,  and  hardly 
anywhere  do  the  practical  and  physical  impulses  and 
needs  of  the  pupils  find  an  expression.  With  such  uni- 

229 


230        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

formity  of  structure  can  we  wonder  that  monotonous 
uniformity  of  desk  and  classroom  routine  is  the  mark  of 
school  instruction,  and  a  dead  mechanical  power  the 
result  of  its  methods  ? 

As  our  teachers  must  awaken  to  the  full  realization  of 
the  practical  and  physical  needs  of  artisan  pupils,  so, 
too,  must  the  architects  and  furniture-makers  seek  to 
adapt  their  plans  and  designs  to  the  aims  of  an  artisan 
school.  The  practical  and  physical  should  not,  as  at 
present,  be  casual  addenda  to  the  main  classroom  plan. 
Let  us  put  wholly  on  one  side  the  traditional  idea  of 
school  buildings,  and,  with  the  aim  of  an  artisan  school 
in  mind,  seek  to  express  in  bricks  and  mortar  its  three- 
fold ideal  of  a  cultured,  a  practical,  and  a  physical 
manhood.  Only  so  shall  we  avoid  waste  and  secure 
efficiency. 

Starting  with  the  threefold  classification  of  the  school 
pursuits  into  cultured,  practical,  and  physical,  we  note 
at  once  that  the  cultured  pursuits  are  largely  occupations 
of  quiet  study,  with  a  certain  amount  of  external  expres- 
sion in  writing,  map-making,  modelling,  and  sketching ; 
the  practical  require  freedom  of  movement,  and  result  in 
the  busy  noise  of  manual  labour  ;  and  the  physical  should 
be  largely  conducted  in  the  open  air,  and  require  large 
spaces  for  the  games  and  contests  of  bodies  of  pupils. 
It  would  be  well,  then,  to  place  the  rooms  for  practical 
work  as  far  as  possible  from  those  required  for  study, 
and  the  playground  in  a  situation  where  the  noise  of 
playground  games  will  not  disturb  the  classes  at  indoor 
work. 

The  first  necessity  is  a  large,  well-lighted  and  well- 
ventilated  gymnasium  fitted  with  simple  apparatus  for 
running,  jumping,  and  climbing  contests,  for  wrestling, 
boxing,  tug-of-war,  gymnasium  quoits,  rope  throwing, 
and  gymnasium  games.  The  handicrafts  require  one 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     231 

workshop  for  wood  and  another  for  metal-work,  to  which 
rooms  should  be  attached  a  classroom  for  workshop  draw- 
ing and  for  the  instructor's  demonstrations.  For  practical 
mathematics  and  mechanics  there  will  be  needed  a  large 
room  fitted  with  benches  suitable  for  practical  measure- 
ments and  work  with  simple  machines  and  instruments. 
Many  of  the  machines  and  instruments  can  be  made  in 
the  school  workshops.  The  making  of  them  will  provide 
an  exercise  in  ingenuity  for  the  older  pupils.  Attached 
to  the  mathematics  workroom  should  be  a  classroom 
fitted  for  mechanical  drawing  and  for  classwork  in  arith- 
metic and  geometry. 

In  proximity  to  the  gymnasium  and  workshops  should 
be  lavatories  fitted  with  wash-hand  basins  and  shower- 
baths.  After  vigorous  physical  exercise,  which  we  have 
advised  to  be  taken  at  least  twice  a  week,  there  should  be 
bathing.  The  whole  body  should  be  washed,  and  the 
most  convenient  mode  of  bathing  a  large  number  of 
pupils  is  by  means  of  a  system  of  shower-baths.  No 
reform  is  more  urgent  in  the  primary  schools  of  our 
working-class  and  slum  quarters  than  the  institution  of 
shower-baths  and  the  formation  of  the  habit  of  regular 
bathing  after  vigorous  exercise.  To  the  lack  of  attention 
to  personal  cleanliness  is  due  much  of  the  unpleasant 
odour  that  assails  the  nostrils  of  visitors  to  the  schools 
of  working-class  neighbourhoods.  The  rapid  spread  of 
skin  diseases  and  infectious  complaints,  too,  is  largely  the 
result  of  the  same  cause.  The  regular  practice  of  bath- 
ing carried  out  in  the  schools  would  do  much  more  than 
any  instruction  in  cleanliness  to  create  a  taste  for  bath- 
ing and  to  fix  the  habit  of  it  as  a  regular  routine. 

On  the  culture  side,  specialized  rooms  are  no  less 
required  than  on  the  practical  and  physical  sides.  The 
art  teacher  needs  a  room  fitted  for  drawing  and  painting. 
The  room  should  be  well  lighted,  and  the  walls 


232        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

covered  to  a  moderate  height  with  blackboards  for  free 
arm  drawing.  Drawing  desks  and  easels  with  seats 
attached  are  the  needful  furniture.  Close  to  the  art  room 
should  be  placed  the  room  for  nature  knowledge.  It 
should  contain  boxes  and  pots  of  growing  plants  and 
seedlings,  large  jam  jars  for  keeping  all  manner  of  twigs, 
insects  and  the  like,  and  an  aquarium  and  herbarium. 
We  can  imagine,  too,  a  good  school  being  provided  with 
a  large  window  frame  for  the  growing  of  plants  under 
glass.  The  art  teacher  should  make  considerable  use  of 
the  material  grown  in  the  nature  room.  Plants,  twigs, 
leaves,  flowers,  and  insects  make  excellent  studies  for 
drawing  and  painting. 

Geography  and  history  being  allied  subjects,  the  rooms 
for  the  study  of  them  will  be  next  to  each  other  so  that 
there  can  be  a  ready  exchange  of  charts,  maps,  and 
pictures.  The  room  for  geography  will  be  hung  with 
geographical  pictures  and  maps,  relief  models  will  be  dis- 
played, and  there  will  be  folios  for  containing  orographic, 
temperature,  rainfall,  regional  and  other  special  maps  of 
all  the  countries  studied.  A  good  teacher  will  make  such 
maps  himself.  He  will  himself  collect,  and  encourage 
his  pupils  to  collect,  pictures  from  magazines,  post  cards, 
and  railway  posters  which  can  be  displayed  in  frames 
hung  on  the  wall.  The  frames  should  have  movable 
backs  so  that  the  contents  can  be  changed  from  time  to 
time.  Besides  the  ordinary  desks  for  the  pupils,  there 
should  be  a  number  of  benches  for  modelling  and  the 
making  of  cardboard  reliefs.  The  geography  room,  that 
is  to  say,  should  be  a  workroom  and  classroom  combined. 
The  history  room  will  be  fitted  with  time  charts,  historical 
pictures,  maps  and  specimens.  Each  of  the  rooms  will 
contain  its  library  of  suitable  reference  books. 

Finally  will  come  the  room  for  the  study  of  English. 
It  is  most  appropriate  that  this  room  should  be  fitted  as  a 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     233 

library  and  reading-room  :  for  we  have  seen  that  the  older 
pupils  should  be  trained  to  some  power  of  independent 
reading  and  study.  Attached  to  it  should  be  a  classroom 
for  class  work  in  literature  and  English. 

It  will  be  noted  that  we  have  made  no  mention  of  a 
large  hall.  Such  a  room  we  believe  to  be  an  unnecessary 
expense.  Where  it  exists,  its  main  function  seems  to  be 
for  school  displays,  the  collection  of  all  the  foul  air 
manufactured  in  the  building,  and  the  glory  of  the  school 
architect.  Few  practical  teachers  will  regret  its  absence. 
For  school  assemblies  each  morning  and  on  other  oc- 
casions, the  gymnasium  will  provide  a  large  enough  space. 

Keeping  in  mind  all  the  above  requirements,  we  have 
ventured  to  give  a  plan  of  a  building  to  meet  them.  We 
do  not  pretend  to  any  skill  in  building  design,  and  the 
plan  below  is  intended  only  as  a  rough  representation  of 
the  kind  of  rooms  required  and  their  relative  position. 
The  details  are  for  an  architect  to  work  out. 


Playground 

Gymnasium 

Wash 
Basins 
and 
Shower- 
baths 

Mechanical 
Dra  wing- 
Room 

Woodwork 

History      Geography 

Drawing 

Metal- 
work 

1 

t 
an 

Corridor 

\ 

/ 

Corridor 

Nature 
Know- 
ledge 

8  |  Cloak  Room 

Maths. 
Work-roon 

Maths. 

Staff 
Room 

s1 

o 
English        Library        & 

~ 

Enti 

t 

Entrance 

There  remain  to  be  considered  the  requirements  outside 


234        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

the  school  buildings  for  games  and  contests  and  other 
forms  of  physical  pursuits. 

It  was  a  wise  policy  that  insisted  on  playgrounds  for 
all  public  primary  schools.  The  wisdom,  however, 
stopped  short  at  providing  the  means.  It  failed  to 
stimulate  the  educational  .spirit  that  would  make  the 
playground  an  educational  instrument.  It  is  truly  as- 
tonishing to  find  a  means  of  grace  at  the  very  doors  of 
the  school,  and  to  discover  that  nothing  so  far  has  been 
done  to  develop  a  system  of  games  and  sports  suited  to 
playground  conditions  and  organize  arrangements  for 
the  fullest  use  of  the  playground  space. 

For  fifty  years  the  playground  has  been  regarded 
largely  as  a  place  for  assembling  the  pupils  to  enter  the 
school,  and  into  which  to  turn  them  for  recreation  once 
a  session.  The  teacher  seems  to  consider  that  his  active 
responsibility  stops  at  the  doorstep,  and,  having  seen 
his  charges  over  the  threshold,  he  leaves  them,  during  the 
interval,  to  the  free  exercise  of  all  their  impulsive  instincts. 
The  playground  is  truly  a  place  to  witness  a  schoolboy 
in  the  exercise  of  all  his  freedom.  He  is  free  from  the 
classroom  passivity,  silence  and  discipline;  he  is  free, 
too,  alas,  to  give  vent  to  every  physical  and  selfish  im- 
pulse that  surges  upward  to  find  an  unbridled  expression 
in  action.  The  playground,  during  a  school  interval,  is 
usually  a  bear  garden,  in  which  the  pupils — a  rushing, 
shouting  mob  of  boys — scramble  about,  pushing  and 
knocking  each  other  down,  playing  rude  tricks  and  rough 
practical  jokes,  regardless  of  everything  except  the  satis- 
faction of  their  rude  physical  impulses.  A  few  of  a  more 
nervous  and  delicate  temperament  retire  from  the  crush 
to  the  safety  of  secluded  corners  to  await  the  welcome 
sound  of  the  school  bell. 

The  playground,  as  at  present  used,  or  rather  misused, 
too  often  serves  as  a  training-ground  for  all  the  virtues 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     235 

and  vices  of  hooliganism,  where  the  strong  rule  by  virtue 
of  their  strength,  and  the  weak,  in  body  and  spirit,  are 
bullied  into  passive  acquiescence.  It  cannot  but  be 
admitted  that,  when  boys  are  left  to  themselves,  they 
tend  to  become  a  disorderly,  bullying,  shouting,  quarrel- 
ling mob,  and  mob  law  and  methods  to  be  the  substitutes 
for  law  and  order.  A  comparison  of  a  group  of 
primary  school  boys  at  play  with  a  team  from  a  public 
school  playing  a  game,  reveals  most  forcibly  the  mob 
rule  of  the  former  and  the  disciplined  social  spirit  of  the 
latter.  The  primary  school  boys  play  their  game  under 
no  recognized  authority,  and  with  no  definite  law  of  the 
game  and  code  of  fair  play.  Each  interprets  his  nebulous 
conception  of  the  rules  of  the  game  as  suits  his  own  con- 
venience, and  the  loudest  voice  and  the  most  assertive 
fist  decides  each  disputed  point.  It  is  no  unknown  thing 
for  a  couple  of  boys  to  emerge  from  a  football  scrum- 
mage to  fight  it  out  with  fists,  or  for  the  boy  in  possession 
of  the  bat  at  cricket  when  played  out  too  early  for  his 
dignity  to  knock  the  wickets  down,  or  throw  the  bat 
away,  or  walk  off  with  it  in  his  possession,  or  with  noisy 
assertion  to  hold  his  ground.  All  these  incidents  the 
writer  has  only  too  often  witnessed.  Those  with  much 
experience  of  boys  who  have  had  no  discipline  in  social 
games  and  who  are  left  to  themselves  in  their  play,  well 
know  that  quarrelling,  squabbling,  bullying,  sullen  ob- 
stinacy, and  passionate  resentment  are  only  too  frequent 
accompaniments  of  the  game. 

With  a  team  from  a  public  school,  none  of  all  this  is 
seen.  The  team  exhibits  all  the  characteristics  of  a  well- 
ordered  and  disciplined  social  community  in  which  law, 
order,  authority,  and  a  strong  public  spirit  are  not 
inconsistent  with  self-assertion  and  independence.  The 
self,  however,  does  not  assert  itself  in  opposition  to  the 
social  law,  but  in  support  of  it.  The  members  of  the 


236        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

team  are  no  less  happy  and  no  less  enthusiastic  than  the 
primary  school  boys.  Indeed,  they  enjoy  the  game  all 
the  more  because  of  its  well-ordered  character.  Quarrel- 
ling, disputes,  obstinacy,  passion  are  seldom  witnessed, 
and,  when  exhibited  by  any  individual,  are  received  by 
the  rest  of  the  team  in  a  manner  that  sufficiently  im- 
presses the  offenders  with  the  magnitude  of  the  outrage. 
The  members  of  the  team  look  to  their  captain  with  re- 
spect, the  younger  boys  with  some  degree  of  reverential 
awe,  for  he  holds  his  position,  not  by  the  rough-and- 
tumble  methods  of  a  street  bully,  but  by  years  of  trial 
and  competition  in  which,  by  his  skill  and  his  power  of 
command,  he  has  shown  his  ability  for  the  position  he 
holds.  No  one  who  has  seen  these  two  very  diverse 
modes  of  playing  games  can  doubt  the  bent  to  hooliganism 
given  by  the  first,  and  the  training  in  social  spirit  and 
disciplined  self-control  by  the  second.  It  is  the  latter 
form  of  play  that  the  organization  of  the  playground 
games  should  strive  to  produce.  No  reform  of  the 
primary  school  tone  is  more  needed  than  a  reform  in  the 
spirit  and  the  manner  in  which  its  pupils  conduct  their 
play. 

Primary  school  teachers,  when  taken  to  task  with  re- 
gard to  the  playground  chaos,  usually  retort :  "  But  what 
can  one  do  with  three  or  four  hundred  boys  in  one  small 
playground  ? J>  The  answer  indicates  the  inability  of  the 
average  teacher  to  see  beyond  traditional  methods.  He 
is  so  accustomed  to  the  playground  being  used  only  for 
the  recreation  of  the  whole  school  during  the  same  quarter 
of  an  hour,  that  he  cannot  imagine  the  playground  being 
in  use  during  five  hours  each  day.  The  playground  is 
there  to  be  used  during  the  twenty-five  working  hours 
of  the  week  as  much  as  are  the  workshop,  the  gymnasium, 
and  the  classroom.  There  is  plenty  of  time  to  give  each 
class  two  lesson  periods  per  week  at  disciplined  games, 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     237 

which  would  go  a  long  way  towards  inculcating  a  more 
disciplined  control  over  the  physical  impulses  and  egoistic 
passions.  "But,"  retorts  the  teacher,  "the  continuous 
noise  of  play  throughout  the  day  would  disturb  the  whole 
school."  So  it  would,  if  the  games  were  conducted  ac- 
cording to  the  noisy  mob-rule  usual  in  the  playground. 
Disciplined  play,  however,  is  a  much  quieter  and  more 
serious  affair.  It  is  one  of  the  great  disciplines  of  games 
that  boys  are  trained  to  play  earnestly  and  seriously,  and 
without  undue  noise. 

We  cannot  sympathize,  then,  with  the  plea  that  there 
is  no  opportunity  for  organized  games  in  the  primary 
school.  The  means  lie  at  the  school  door.  It  is  only 
the  routine  of  tradition  and  the  sway  of  the  classroom 
spirit  that  permit  playgrounds,  large  enough  for  organized 
games  for  forty  or  fifty  pupils,  to  remain  totally  unused 
for  any  educational  purpose. 

The  games  and  contests  for  the  playground  would  need 
to  be  suited  to  playground  conditions,  viz.  a  confined 
space,  the  proximity  of  windows,  and  a  hard  and  some- 
times slippery  surface.  Cricket,  football,  and  hockey 
are  therefore  unsuitable.  Games  in  which  a  boy  may  be 
thrown  violently  to  the  ground  are  obviously  out  of  place. 
There  are,  however,  many  running,  ball,  and  struggling 
games  that  are  excellent  for  the  playground.  Hand-ball 
or  basket-ball  is  an  excellent  substitute  for  football. 
Whirligig,  prisoner's  base,  chivy,  and  follow-my-leader 
are  good  running  and  catching  games.  Leap-frog  and  its 
many  variations,  rounders,  fives  or  rackets,  quoits  (with 
rope  rings)  are  all  suitable.  There  are,  too,  many  simple 
exercises  in  running,  leaping,  throwing,  and  kicking  a  ball, 
that  can  by  a  little  creative  imagination  be  elaborated 
into  short  games  or  contests,  and  will  provide  excellent 
exercise  for  short  spells  of  five  or  ten  minutes.  For 
example,  place  the  boys  round  in  a  ring  and  space 


238        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

them  about  one  yard  apart.  Let  a  football  be  passed 
rapidly  from  boy  to  boy,  sometimes  to  the  right,  some- 
times to  the  left,  sometimes  across  the  ring.  A  variation 
on  the  above  is  to  place  a  boy  in  the  middle  with  the 
football.  He  "  shoots  "  it  fast  and  low  against  the  ring 
with  the  object  of  piercing  it.  The  boys  in  the  ring  try 
with  their  legs  and  feet  to  prevent  the  ball  passing  through. 
Such  exercises,  conducted  with  spirit  and  vim,  are  emin- 
ently suited  for  five  or  ten  minutes'  practice,  after  which 
the  teacher  should  change  quickly  to  some  other  form  of 
spirited  contest. 

Excellent  as  may  be  the  use  to  which  the  gymnasium 
and  playground  are  put,  there  is  still  a  place  for  playing 
fields.  Nothing,  after  all,  can  take  the  place  of  our  national 
games  of  cricket  and  football.  It  is  a  disgrace  to  national 
education  that  the  boys  of  a  nation  that  is  worthily  proud 
of  its  national  sports  can  leave  the  national  schools  with 
only  the  vaguest  knowledge  of  the  rules,  methods,  and 
spirit  of  these  games,  and  without  having  been  trained 
to  the  disciplined  enjoyment  of  them.  They  are  as  much 
a  part  of  the  nation's  heritage  as  its  literature,  its  history, 
and  its  songs.  We  realize  that  the  school  has  not  done 
its  duty  if  its  pupils  prefer  a  "  penny  dreadful "  to  good 
literature,  and  the  music-hall  song  to  a  good  melody.  It 
is  equally  a  disgrace  if  they  prefer  loafing,  pitch  penny, 
or  shouting  for  a  local  team  to  the  higher  enjoyment  of 
playing  organized  cricket  and  football.  Hence,  if  the 
schools  are  to  bring  the  national  heritage  of  sports  into 
the  lives  of  the  masses  of  the  nation,  each  school  must 
have  at  its  command  some  wide  open  space  to  use  as  its 
playing  field. 

At  first  sight  the  provision  of  playing  fields  for  the 
nation's  schools  seems  an  overwhelming  proposal.  A  little 
reflection,  however,  will  show  that  it  is  not  so  difficult  a 
task  as  it  seems.  In  most  large  towns  there  are  several 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     239 

recreation  grounds  and  open  spaces  dotted  here  and 
there  that  are  under  the  control  of  the  municipal  author- 
ities. During  the  day  these  spaces  are,  in  a  large  mea- 
sure, unused  and  unoccupied.  The  writer  has  taken  the 
trouble  to  examine  the  large  public  recreation  spaces  of 
a  large  industrial  town  in  the  north  in  relation  to  the 
schools  in  the  vicinity  of  them.  In  one  quarter  of  the 
town  are  seven  large  schools.  All  these  schools  are 
within  ten  minutes'  walk  of  one  or  other  of  three  large 
recreation  grounds.  Yet  not  one  of  these  schools  makes 
any  organized  use  of  these  spaces  for  regular  school  games 
in  school  time.  Some  of  them,  it  is  true,  have  a  school 
football  and  cricket  club,  and  the  teams  practise  on 
these  open  spaces  after  school  hours  under  the  super- 
vision of  one  of  the  staff  who  voluntarily  gives  his  time. 
All  this  is  to  the  good,  and  all  honour  to  those  teachers 
who  give  of  their  spare  time.  A  school  team,  however, 
is  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean.  It  only  touches  the  fringe 
of  the  problem.  School  games  should  reach  every  mem- 
ber of  the  school.  If  they  are  good  for  the  boy  who  is 
naturally  apt  at  games,  they  are  all  the  more  needed  for 
the  one  who  is  diffident  and  backward.  It  is  idle,  then,  to 
speak  of  lack  of  opportunity  when  the  means  of  training 
a  hardier  physique  and  a  hardier  manhood  lie  at  the 
door  of  the  school  or,  at  any  rate,  within  easy  reach  of  it. 
We  have  emphasized  most  strongly  the  importance  of 
training  in  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  a  hardy  phys- 
ique and  a  strong,  resourceful  manhood.  The  pursuits 
of  the  school  workshops,  the  gymnasium,  playgrounds, 
and  playing  fields,  if  used  to  their  fullest  extent  as  hard 
educational  disciplines,  are  some  of  the  means  which  we 
suggest  will  do  much  to  counteract  the  weakening  effect 
of  the  sedentary  life  of  the  classroom.  So  much,  how- 
ever, do  we  hold  that  the  strength  of  a  nation,  its  enter- 
prise, and  its  power  to  extend  its  civilization  and  its 


24o        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

race  over  the  world  depend  on  the  physique,  the  re- 
sourceful initiative  and  the  independence  and  resolution 
of  its  citizens,  that  we  would  leave  no  stone  unturned  to 
develop  these  qualities  in  the  youth  of  the  nation.  Town 
life,  even  when  strongly  seasoned  with  practical  and 
physical  pursuits,  cannot  fully  give  the  training  necessary. 
The  home,  the  schools,  the  shops,  the  trams  and  railways, 
and  the  hundred  and  one  other  resources  of  civilization  in 
a  town  do  so  much  in  every  way  for  the  town  boy,  that 
he  never  learns  what  it  means  to  face  things  with  only 
his  own  wits  and  hands  on  which  to  rely.  We  would 
suggest  that  every  boy,  as  a  climax  to  his  school  career, 
spend  some  period,  at  least  a  month,  entirely  away  from 
town  conveniences,  and  be  placed  under  such  conditions 
that  he  will  have  to  fend  for  himself,  and  so  learn  to  stand 
on  his  own  feet.  Such  a  training  is  given  in  camp  life. 

During  the  last  decade,  camping  has  been  a  favourite 
summer  recreation  among  all  classes  of  society.  It 
appeals  to  the  Englishman's  love  of  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence. He  delights  in  being  away  from  the  smaller 
conventions  of  town  civilization,  and  enjoys  the  fun  of 
looking  after  himself.  Roughing  it  in  the  open  air  gives 
a  keen  edge  to  his  holiday.  Many  schools  and  boys' 
clubs  organize  summer  camps,  but  these  are  largely 
holiday  camps  for  recreation.  Boy  scouts  and  cadet 
corps  take  their  camping  more  seriously.  Military  drill, 
manoeuvres,  and  "  scouting "  of  various  kinds  form  a 
serious  part  of  the  daily  routine.  The  work  is  harder, 
and  the  discipline  stricter  than  that  of  the  holiday 
camp.  In  other  words,  the  camp  has  a  definite  and 
serious  educational  aim ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
"  roughing  it,"  the  work,  and  the  discipline  have  a  great 
influence  in  forming  character.  Moreover,  the  boys  en- 
joy the  camping  all  the  more  because  of  the  hardship, 
the  work,  and  the  discipline. 


THE  BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT     241 

The  school  camp  we  have  in  mind  is  no  holiday  camp, 
but  one  with  a  serious  educational  aim.  The  boys  should 
go  there  for  work,  not  play ;  for  hard  discipline,  not  to  "  do 
as  you  please  ".  It  should  be  a  school  in  as  strict  a  sense 
as  the  school  in  the  town,  having  its  organization,  its 
classes,  its  occupations,  and  its  discipline.  Moreover,  it 
should  not  be  a  voluntary  effort  on  the  part  of  this  or 
that  school.  It  should  be  a  regular  institution  organized 
by  the  education  authorities  of  our  large  towns  and 
managed  and  staffed  by  them.  Every  primary  school 
boy  should  spend,  during  his  last  year  at  school,  at  least 
one  month  in  camp. 

The  work  of  a  camp  school  should  be  largely  outdoor 
work  of  a  practical  and  physical  character,  though  there 
will  need  to  be  indoor  exercises  in  English,  History, 
Geography,  and  Mathematics.  These  could  be  taken 
either  early  in  the  morning  or  in  the  evening,  so  as  to 
leave  the  main  part  of  the  day  for  open-air  pursuits.  In 
correlation  with  the  culture  studies,  there  should  be  sur- 
veying, map-making  and  contouring,  the  observation  of 
river  drainage  and  erosion,  and  field  work  in  nature 
knowledge.  The  practical  occupations  should  embrace 
the  hardier  and  heavier  kinds  of  manual  work,  such  as 
draining,  rail-splitting,  fencing,  simple  road-making, 
bridge-building,  and  gardening  in  the  camp  allotment. 
A  portion  of  each  day  should  be  spent  in  physical  recrea- 
tion, such  as  football,  hockey,  cricket,  and  swimming. 
Running,  jumping,  and  climbing  contests,  boxing  and 
wrestling,  should  also  be  practised,  in  the  open  in  suitable 
weather,  under  cover  during  wet  weather. 

The  discipline  of  a  large  camp  in  which  the  pupils  are 
mainly  engaged  in  active  outdoor  tasks  needs  to  be  of  a 
semi-military  character.  This  we  are  by  no  means 
averse  from,  nor  do  we  hesitate  to  recommend  the  prac- 
tice of  military  drills  and  evolutions  of  a  simple  character. 

16 


242        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

The  spirit  and  habit  of  strict,  exact  obedience  and  of 
precision  in  carrying  out  orders  to  the  letter  are  qualities 
greatly  needed  in  a  large  social  organism.  It  is  the 
price  we  pay  for  living  in  an  advanced  and  complex 
civilization.  Military  drills  and  the  evolutions  of  a 
number  of  companies  co-operating  under  strict  discipline 
to  carry  out  some  concerted  action  give  an  excellent 
training  in  the  habit  of  strict  and  exact  obedience.  The 
evil  of  such  training  lies  in  over-emphasizing  passive  obedi- 
ence at  the  cost  of  independent  thought.  Hence,  as  a 
corrective  to  the  automatism  of  drills  and  field  movements, 
there  should  be  exercises  in  individual  scouting  and 
patrolling  to  bring  into  play  each  individual's  initiative 
and  resource.  Instruction  and  practice  in  fire-drill  and 
first  aid  should  also  form  part  of  the  work  of  a  camp 
school. 

The  object  of  the  camp  school,  we  have  seen,  is  to 
train  pupils  to  stand  on  their  own  feet.  This  aim  should 
be  thoroughly  realized  in  every  particular.  All  the  work 
of  the  camp  should  be  done  by  the  pupils  as  far  as  it  can 
be  done.  The  boys  themselves  should  cook,  clean,  and 
wash  under  the  direction  of  experienced  adults.  Each 
boy  will  make  his  own  bed  and  be  responsible  for  the 
tidiness  and  cleanliness  of  his  own  quarters.  We  wish 
the  boy  on  leaving  camp  to  be  able  to  "  fend  "  for  him- 
self in  every  particular. 

The  camp  should  be  situated  on  some  wide,  open 
moorland  where  field  work  can  be  indulged  in  without 
damaging  hedges  and  fields.  Some  of  the  buildings,  as 
the  dining-rooms,  classrooms  for  indoor  work,  gymnasium, 
recreation  rooms,  and  hospital,  should  be  permanent 
structures.  The  pupils  should  sleep  under  canvas  or  in 
large  wooden  sheds.  The  pupils  should  "  rough  it,"  and 
the  staff  should  set  the  example. 


APPENDIX. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DAY  PREPARATORY  TRADES 
SCHOOLS  OF  THE  CITY  OF  LEEDS. 

IN  1905  the  Leeds  City  Education  Authority,  acting  on  the 
advice  of  the  Secretary  for  Education,  Mr.  James  Graham, 
instituted  as  an  experiment  two  Day  Preparatory  Trades  Schools, 
one  in  the  Woodhouse,  the  other  in  the  Holbeck  district.  The 
aim  of  these  schools  was  not  to  give  any  specialized  training  in 
the  actual  trades  the  pupils  would  be  likely  to  pursue  on  leav- 
ing, but  to  give  a  broad  and  yet  thorough  "  preparatory  "  training 
in  such  wood  and  metal  work  and  practical  mathematics, 
mechanics,  and  drawing,  as  would  form  a  sound  practical  basis 
for  most  of  the  skilled  trades  carried  on  in  the  city,  and  from 
which  the  pupils  could  step  easily  (i)  to  the  specialization  of  the 
employer's  workshop,  and  (2)  to  the  more  thorough  treatment 
of  the  scientific  basis  of  trade  processes  that  is  given  in  the 
evening  technical  school.  At  the  same  time  the  work  done 
in  the  schools  was  not  to  be  of  any  artificial  and  merely  "  class- 
room "  character.  In  all  the  details  of  the  handwork  and  of 
the  mathematics,  mechanics  and  drawing,  the  exercises  were 
to  be  of  as  practical  and  workshop-like  a  character  as  possible. 
The  pupils  were  to  be  faced  with  practical  problems  very  similar 
to  those  existing  in  the  workshops  of  the  city. 

Although  the  practical  was  given  a  very  prominent  position 
in  the  curriculum  and  took  by  far  the  largest  share  of  the 
time,  it  was  felt  that  culture  should  not  be  altogether  absent. 
Hence  a  considerable  share  of  time  was  allotted  to  English 
Literature  and  Composition  to  encourage  a  taste  for  reading, 
and  to  give  a  command  over  language. 

The  schools  accepted  boys  who  had  passed  Standard  VI  of 
the  primary  school,  and  the  course  was  designed  to  run  over 

243  16  * 


244        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 


two  years.  It  is  claimed  both  by  Mr.  Graham  and  the  Head 
Teachers,  however,  that  much  of  the  work  could  be  included 
in  the  curriculum  of  the  last  two  years  of  the  primary  school  if 
the  leaving  age  were  raised  to  fourteen  years. 

The  experiment  has  proved  itself  a  great  success.  The 
employers  who  have  engaged  pupils  on  leaving  the  school  speak 
most  highly  of  their  intelligence,  practical  skill,  interest  in  trade 
processes,  and  sense  of  responsibility.  In  school  the  pupils  are 
interested  in  their  work,  appreciate  the  value  of  it,  and  are 
eager  to  advance.  Most  of  the  pupils  on  entering  a  workshop 
attend  evening  continuation  schools,  and  many  of  them  after 
leaving  school  have  risen  to  posts  of  very  considerable  responsi- 
bility in  the  works  in  which  they  have  been  employed. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  occupations  entered  by 
the  boys  who  have  left  the  schools  : — 


No.  of  Boys. 

Kmnlovm     t 

Holbcck  School. 

Woodhouse  School. 

Mechanical  Engineering 

7° 

64 

Electrical  Engineering 

7 

16 

Draughtsmen 

12 

II 

Building  Trades  . 

I 

13 

Other  Skilled  Occupations 

9 

21 

Unskilled  Occupations 

6 

12 

Commercial  Occupations 

15 

13 

Occupations  not  known 

4° 

26 

Total  Number  of  Boys  who  have 



left  the  schools  up  to  July,  1912. 

160 

I76 

The  Curriculum  and  the  Amount  of  Time  given  each  week 
to  each  branch  of  it  are  as  follows  :— 

Practical  Mathematics  (Arithmetic,  Simple  Algebra, 

and  Geometry) 6J  hours  per  week. 

Practical  Mechanics 3 

Technical  Drawing 4j 

Workshop  Practice 6J 

English 5| 

Drill  and  Games 2 


Total 


28 


APPENDIX  245 

The  Schemes  of  Work  in  each  branch  of  the  curriculum  are 
as  follows  : — 

ENGLISH. 

(a)  Exercises  in  Reading  to  encourage  a  taste  for  good 

literature. 

(b)  Practice  in  the  art  of  clear  and  accurate  expression, 

including  Spelling,  Notes   of  Lectures  and  Experi- 
ments, Letter- Writing,  and  Simple  Essays. 
The  subject-matter  of  much  of  the  essay  writing  and  some 
of  the  reading  embraces  such  topics  as :  Processes  of  Manu- 
facture,  Materials  used   in    Industry,   Mechanical    Principles 
applied  in  the  Construction  of  Machinery,  and  the  History  of 
Iron,  Steam,  Electricity,  etc.,  in  the  progress  of  Industries. 

PRACTICAL  MATHEMATICS. 

Revision  of  Vulgar  and  Decimal  Fractions. 

English  and  Metric  Systems  of  Measurement  and  methods 

of  conversion. 

Averages,  Ratio,  Percentage,  and  Proportion. 
Simple  Algebra  (including  Equations). 
Approximations  with  estimation  of  the  degree  of  accuracy 

possible  in  practical  measurements. 
Contracted  Methods. 
Logarithms  and  the  use  of  Tables. 
Graphical  Representation  and  Solution  of  Problems. 

The  whole  of  the  above  to  be  taught,  applied,  and  practised 
in  relation  to  the  practical  processes  of  measurement  common 
in  the  workshops  and  trades  of  the  city. 

PRACTICAL  GEOMETRY. 

Practical  Problems  involving  Lines,  Angles,  Arcs,  Circles. 
Simple  Mechanical  Notions  graphically  represented. 
Areas  of  regular  and  irregular  Plane  Figures  with  graphical 

verification  of  formulae. 

Applications   of  Engineers'    Rules   and   Shop  Methods. 
Setting  Out. 


246        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Simple  Field  Work  in  Surveying,  including   Judging  of 

Distances  and  Heights. 
Projection  of  Solids,  including  Sections  and  leading  to 

Developments  and  Built-up  Work. 

PRACTICAL  MECHANICS  (almost  entirely  experimental 
work). 

The  Verification  of  Simple  Laws  and  Rules  involving  Ex- 
periments in  relation  to  Length,  Area,  Volume, 
Derivation  and  Comparison  of  Units,  Measuring  In- 
struments, and  Limits  of  Accuracy,  with  practical 
applications  of  the  above  rules. 

Measurement  of  Mass,  Weighing  by  Spring  and  Beam 
Balances,  Comparison  of  Units  of  Mass,  Displace- 
ment, Density,  Specific  Gravity,  Flotation,  Pressure 
and  Head  of  Water,  Syphon,  Simple  Pump,  Hydraulic 
Press. 

Experiments  on  Force  with  reference  to  Resultant  and 
Equilibrant,  Parallelogram  and  Triangle  of  Forces, 
Moments,  Levers,  Centre  of  Gravity,  Steelyards, 
Reaction  on  Supports,  Principle  of  Work,  Horse 
Power,  Friction,  Machines,  Mechanical  Advantage 
and  Efficiency  of  Gin  Block,  Wheel  and  Axle,  Three 
and  Fivp-Sheaved  Pulley  Blocks. 

Experiments  on  Heat  with  reference  to  Change  of  State, 
Expansion,  Units  of  Heat,  Thermometers,  Comparison 
of  Fixed  Points,  Conduction,  Convection,  Radiation, 
Melting  Points,  Steam  Raising  Plant. 

TECHNICAL  DRAWING. 

Use  and  Care  of  Instruments. 

Principles  of  Projection  and  of  Geometry  applied  to  Ma- 
chine Drawing. 

The  making  of  dimensioned  Free-Hand  Sketches  of  Ma- 
chine Details  from  actual  examples. 

The  methods  of  arranging,  spacing,  and  dimensioning 
Drawings. 


APPENDIX  247 

The  preparation  of  finished  Working  Drawings,  Tracing, 
and  Blue  Printing. 

WORKSHOP  PRACTICE. 
Woodwork — 

Use  of  common  Woodworking  Tools,  application  to 
Simple  Pattern- Making,  including  Methods  of  Con- 
struction, Shrinkage,  Contraction  Rules,  Core  print 
and  Box  Making,  Wood  Turning. 

Bench  Work- 
Use  of  Chisels,  Hack  Saw,  Files,  Scrapers,  Marking  Tools, 
Gauging  and  Measuring  Tools,  Methods  of  Fastening, 
Assembling  of  Parts. 

Lathe  Work- 
Use  of  Double  Geared,  S.S.  and  S.C.  Gap-Lathes  (com- 
plete with  necessary  fittings). 
Care  and   Formation   of  Cutting   Tools  in  Carbon  and 

High  Speed  Steels. 

Exercises,  including  Sliding,  Surfacing,  Taper  Turning, 
Boring,  Screw  Cutting,  Chasing,  Knurling,  and 
Hand  Turning. 

WORKSHOP  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  HOLBECK  DAY 
PREPARATORY  TRADES  SCHOOL  FOR  20  BOYS. 

The  scheme  of  practical  training  includes  exercises  which  in- 
volve the  'underlying  principles  of  the  various  branches  of 
industry. 

1.  Bench  Work:  (i)  Woodworking  (pattern  making). 

(ti)  Metal  Work  (fitting). 

2.  Lathe  Work  :    (i)  Wood  Turning. 

(ii)  Metal  Turning. 

3.  Forge  Work. 

4.  Metal  Plate  Work. 

5.  Moulding  and  Casting. 


248        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

1.  Bench  Work. 

(a)  Woodwork. 

(i)  Furniture : — 

Bench  to  accommodate  4  boys  with  side  and 
tail  vices,  drawers  and  cupboards  for  storing 
tools. 

(ii)  Tools:— 

Sawing  and  boring  steels. 
Complete  set  of  woodworking  tools. 

(b)  Fitting. 

(i)  Furniture : — 

Benches  for  20  boys  with  hardwood  tops  and 
fitted  with  drawers  and  lockers  and  various 
kinds  of  vices. 

Bench  for  marking  off  and  for  demonstration, 
fitted  with  drawers  and  cupboards  for  stor- 
ing special  tools,  and  a  cast-iron  marking- 
off  table. 

(ii)  Tools : — 

A  complete  set  of  fitter's  tools  in  the  drawer  of 

each  bench. 
Special  tools : — 

Various  kinds  of  callipers  and  compasses. 
Scribing  block,  vee  blocks,  and  surface  plates. 
Hand  vices,  large  try-squares,  pliers,  hack  saws, 

and  hand-drill. 

Taps,  stocks  and  dies,  and  drills. 
Chipping  chisels  and  scrapers. 

2.  Lathe  Work. 

(a)    Wood  Turning  (including  pattern  making). 
Machines  : — 

4  in.  centre  hand  turning  lathe  geared  for  wood- 


APPENDIX  249 

turning,  with  slide  rest  attachments  and  set 
of  tools. 

(b)  Metal  Turning. 
Machines : — 

4-£  in.  and  3^  in.  centre,  screw  cutting,  sliding, 

and  surfacing  gap- lathes  (with  accessories). 

3  in.  centre,  hollow  spindle  chuck  lathe  (with 

accessories). 

Other  machines  required  in  lathe  work. 
Punching  and  shearing  machine. 
Hand  and  treadle  bench  drilling  machine,  with 
revolving  table  and  machine  vice. 

3.  Forge  Work. 

Forge  fitted  with  fan  and  adjustable  hood. 

Grindstone  and  trough. 

Anvils  and  cast-iron  stands. 

Two  complete  sets  of  tools. 

Swage  blocks,  swages,  fullers,  sets,  hammers. 

4.  Metal  Plate  Work. 

(i)  Furniture : — 

Bench  with  broad  top  protected  by  sheet-metal 
covering,  and  fitted  with  sockets  for  stakes, 
etc. 

Gas  fittings  for  stoves  and  blowpipe. 

(ii)  Tools:— 

Various  soldering  bits,  shears,  pliers,  hammers, 

and  mallets. 
Tinman's  anvil,  stakes,  creasing  tools,  and  cramps. 

5.  Moulding  and  Casting. 

(i)  Furniture : — 

Trough  bench  with  sliding  table  and  cupboards. 


250       PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

(ii)  Tools:— 

Set  or  moulder's  hand  tools,  cast-iron  boxes  and 

.riddle. 
Plumber's  melting  pot  arid  ladles. 

EQUIPMENT   FOR   THE   PRACTICAL    MECHANICS 
WORKROOM  FOR  20  BOYS. 

The  scheme  provides  practical  exercises  in  measurements  in 
the  sciences  which  underlie  various  branches  of  industry. 

Sections. 

1.  Length  and  Area. 

2.  Volume,  Mass,  Weight. 

3.  Density,  Relative  Density,  Flotation,  Pressure  of  Fluids. 

4.  Levers,  Friction,  Simple  Machines  and  Mechanisms. 

5.  Heat. 
Apparatus  required : — 

1.  Length  and  Area. 

Metre  and  half-metre  boxwood  rules  graduated  in  cms. 

and  tenths  of  an  inch. 
Steel  rules. 

Callipers  (inside  and  outside),  compasses,  dividers. 
Callipers  (vernier)  graduated  in  inches  and  cms. 
Screw  gauges  to  read  *ooi  cms.  and  'ooi  ins. 
Opisometer. 

Squared  paper  in  inches  and  cms. 
Accurate  beam  balance  and  domestic  balances  to  register 

14  lb.,  with  weights  in  grammes  and  ounces. 
Scissors,  pins,  sheet  metal,  cardboard. 

2,  Volume,  Mass,  Weight. 

Set  of  graduated  measuring  cylinders. 
Litre,  gallon,  and  pint  measures. 
Spring  balances  to  register  30  lb. 
Weights  up  to  56  lb.  and  20  kilograms. 


APPENDIX  251 

Burettes  to  measure  tenths  of  c.cs. 

Specific  gravity  flasks. 

Hare's  apparatus  and  U  tubes. 

Apparatus  for  Boyle's  Law. 

Hydrometers  (various  kinds). 

Spbuting  can  for  displacement  of  water. 

Can  with  holes  at  various  heights  to  indicate  liquid  pres- 
sure. 

Model  pump  (glass). 

Flask  fitted  with  three-holed  stopper  and  tubes  for  fluid 
pressure  experiments. 

Sets  of  solids  of  regular  geometrical  outline  in  various 
woods  and  metals. 

Irregular  solids,  some  heavier  and  others  lighter  than 
water,  for  flotation  experiments. 

Springs  of  various  strengths,  rubber  cord. 

Mercury,  common  salt,  copper  sulphate,  methylated  spirits, 
paraffin,  sand. 

Beakers,  funnels,  pipettes,  glass  and  rubber  tubing,  pneu- 
matic troughs,  enamelled  jugs,  retort  stands  and 
attachments,  string,  Mohr's  clips. 

4.  Levers,  Friction,  Simple  Machines  and  Mechanisms. 

Long  wooden  beams,  from  4  ft.  to  6  ft.  in  length. 

Stands  and  supports  suitable  for  carrying  small  levers. 

Steelyards  (commercial  type  and  simply  constructed  ones). 

Boaid  with  slots  for  experiments  on  forces. 

Pulleys  to  fit  slots  and  small  scale  pans. 

Graduated  angle  disc. 

Friction  planes  and  slides  of  various  materials. 

Inclined  plane  with  brass  roller. 

Pulley  blocks,  ropes,  and  hooks. 

Wheel  and  axle  apparatus. 

5.  Heat. 

Metal  ball  and  ring,  bar  and  gauge,  compound  metal 
strips. 


252        PRIMARY  ARTISAN  EDUCATION 

Tank  fitted  with  rods  of  various  substances  to  demonstrate 

differential  conduction. 
Block  of  wood  with  brass  let  in  for  demonstrating  the 

differential  conduction  of  heat. 
Potassium  permanganate,  turpentine,  naphtha,  wax. 
Test  tubes,    bunsens,    tripod  stands,  wire  gauze,    metal 

funnels. 

Furniture, 

Laboratory  tables,  balance  stands,  cupboards  with  glass 
panels,  fixture  for  suspending  apparatus,  gas  con- 
nexions, water  connexion  and  trough  sink,  lecture 
table  with  gas  and  water  connexions. 


ABERDEEN:  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 


NOV  2915*0 


YB  05528 


/vr 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


